How Dare He
by Amelia Opal
Summary: Making Her Love Him? How Dare He. [Jily] (Because what else?)
1. How He Antagonized Defenceless Students

**Lily Evans hated James Potter. **

**She hated the way he antagonized defenseless students in the corridors.**

James Potter was walking alone through the fourth level corridor and heard a small whimper. He spun around and was face to face with a small, Ravenclaw third year.

"Are you alright?"

Nothing.

"I'm James, what's your name?"

"C….C…C…Clare."

"That's a nice name."

More sobs.

"Clare, seriously, what's wrong?"

"I…I…I have a b..b..b..boyfriend. This was our special spot, I couldn't find him so I came here, and"

The girl broke down in sobs.

"Where is he?"

Clare pointed towards a corner a couple of meters away and sure enough there was a third year Slytherin aggressively making out with a female Ravenclaw.

"That little bitch." James muttered as he stormed towards the direction of the two third years.

"OII, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

"What does it look like?" Smirked the Slytherin boy who had stopped hooking up with the giggling girl.

"Well to me, it looks like your cheating on your girlfriend, how about that?"

"Clare? Nah that bitch is in the library, like a good little girl. How frigid"

"A good girl? Oh honey I can assure you that I am anything but." James whirled around and sure enough, he was face to face with a more confident looking Clare, once again.

Clare raised her wand and smiled.

"Locomotor Wibbly"

The Slytherin's legs gave way and he had to grab on to the girl he was with to keep his balance.

Clare took another step towards her ex and raised her wand higher.

"Petrificus totalus"

The obnoxious cheater was frozen.

"Oh what the heck" Clare muttered as she put her wand onto her back pocket, "these things are useless."

Clare took one more step towards the frozen boy and slapped him square across his ugly face. Looking a lot more satisfied she then turned towards the girl her ex was with, "Scram" she whispered. The girl ran off.

James shook his head, smiled and high fived Clare as she victoriously walked away.

James stood staring at the nasty Slytherin standing frozen in front of him, he chuckled lightly and walked away.

~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~

Lily Evans was rounding a corner on the fourth level corridor when she saw _him. _

James Potter was staring at a poor, frozen Slytherin third year, he laughed and walked away. He hexed this innocent third year and _laughed. _ How dare he.


	2. How He Didn't Care About His School Work

**She hated the way he didn't give a flying crap about his schoolwork.**

James and Sirius let out a loud laugh during McGonagalls lesson.

"Potter, Black, may I ask what is so hilarious about animagi?"

"Nothing Professor, the subject is very serious to both of us."

"Really now?"

"I'm Serious!"

Sirius laughed at his own Sirius pun while James snorted and gave him a not so secret high five.

"Are you two finding my lesson boring?"

"Boring? This lesson is really interesting."

"Yeah Minnie, I believe this lesson is barking mad."

"In the best way possible!"

"BOYS"

"As quiet as mice." James promised as he nudged Sirius.

"Well then, the Animagi process is extremely long and complicated. It has taken great wizards centuries to perfect their transformations."

McGonagall was gone, in her place stood a thin, tabby cat.

"Awh Damn, I've always been a dog person."

Sirius whispered to James. James lost it completely and laughed his head off.

James and Sirius would never admit it, but they were poking fun at this lesson for Remus' sake. Remus was a horrible liar and felt so incredibly uncomfortable learning about various subjects, such as Animagus transformations and of course studying Werewolves.

With them continuously disrupting the lesson with stupid but all so hilarious puns, Remus could take his mind of the lesson and laugh along with them.

After the lesson James and Sirius high-fived, a lot quieter this time. Remus wasn't uncomfortable at all; he looked calm, relaxed and carefree. They had succeeded.

"OII EVANS"

Lily spun around and glared at James.

"What?"

"Go out with me, Eh?"

"POTTER, I WOULDN'T USE YOU IF I WAS ON FIRE AND YOU WERE THE LAST BUCKET OF WATER ON THE PLANNET"

"But Flower, you're always on fire."

Lily stood up, smacked her books on her table and stormed out the classroom.

~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~

James was such an arrogant prick. He thought that he was top shit and that irritated the hell out of her. Potter continuously disrupting an interesting lesson on transfiguration.

Better yet, Animagi. Lily hadn't heard of this fascinating form of magic and for these boys to spoil this lesson for her was egocentric.

She couldn't believe that no one notice the two boys high five silently at the end of McGonagall's lesson, oh the nerve of them, thinking that they succeeded in disturbing the lesson. Couldn't they tell that their poor professor was trying her best to teach a class?

Who died and let Potter become king? Oh and at the end of the lesson he asked me out.

HE ASKED ME OUT.

_HE ASKED ME OUT._

**HE ASKED ME OUT.**

I didn't get overly angry, for McGonagall's sake. All I did was insult him and then he called me HOT. I left the classroom, he couldn't see me blush, never. I swear to god I am going to kill that kid. Embarrassing me during lessons? How dare he.


	3. How He Got Top Marks Without Trying

**She hated the way he got top marks without even trying.**

"Sirius Black, I'm impressed, 90%."

McGonagall was walking up and down the classroom handing out results to the Animagi exam that her class had previously sat.

"Marlene Mckinnon, 78%" Marlene put her head in her hands and groaned, Lily immediately placed her hand on Marlene's back, reassuring her.

"Remus Lupin, 92%."

"I GOT TWO LESS PERCENTS THAN MOONY!" Sirius jumped up and did a little victory dance.

"Sit." Ordered James.

Sirius sat down obediently.

"Good boy, Good boy." James gushed.

"His not your frickin pet Potter."

"My dear Lily flower, Snuffles here has feelings too."

Remus fell to the floor laughing.

McGonagall shook her head silently, these kids were the death of her, but even she couldn't deny the fact that she loved them.

"Lily Evans, 98%" Lily positively beamed as she got her paper back.

"James Potter, 100%. My dear gosh I'm impressed." James smiled, this time not a smirk. He thanked his professor and read his paper.

"Now if only Mr Potter could put as much effort into his classwork as he does in his tests…" McGonagall shook her head as the class laughed.

Sirius thumped James on the back.

"I don't know why, but these answers just came naturally to me. I felt as if I truly experienced the animagi process." James bragged to Sirius.

"I felt that too, this feeling is barking mad."

James, Remus and Sirius laughed their heads off. Peter laughed uncertainly; they probably were going to have to explain the joke to him later.

"EVANS"

Lily took a deep breath out and turned around. 

"LOOK DOWN AT YOUR DESK"

Lily looked embarrased, he screamed so loud she bet that they could hear him down in the dungeons.

Lily looked down and sure enough sitting on her desk was a rose with a not attatched. She looked at the rose and read the note.

_My dear Lilly Flower,_

_I solemnly swear that I never ever think about you in the shower,_

_Okay maybe once or twice but that doesn't matter,_

_Thinking of you makes me as mad as the hatter,_

**It does.**

_Oii sirius you big prune this is supposed to be MY love poem_

**This is about as romantic as Snivelly in a dress.**

_Leave._

**Fine.**

_As I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted by mr black,_

_I want you to know that I'll always have your back,_

_A life for a life,_

_A tea for a tea,_

_Please Lily Evans,_

_Go out with me._

Lilly pulled out her wand

"Incendio"

Burned the note.

pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill,

stood up, dropped the note in James' lap and sauntered out of the classroom.

All heads turned to James as he opened the note with a smile,

_Potter,_

_Go die in a hole._

_Lily._

James banged his head on the table as Sirius laughed his head off.

When the lesson was over James left the classroom, he put so much effort into his essay and he was so glad that his effort had payed off, he thought that Evans would be impressed.

He must try harder.

~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~

Potter got first mark in transfiguration, I absolutely can't believe it. He didn't listen the slightest bit during that lesson and yet, he beat me. He didn't even smirk, oh the nerve of him, pretending to be good and intelligent.

Everyone knows he is just arrogant and foolish, I bet he will stick his results onto the Gryffindor notice board just for the praise and no one would take it down, just because he is Mr Fabulous James Potter.

Professor said that if only he put the same amount of effort in his classes the way he does in his essays. But the annoying thing is he didn't put any effort into his essay, he is genetically smart.

He didn't try for full marks, he didn't even put effort into it, and he doesn't care about his marks or his classes. He thinks that his good genes would get him everywhere in life but everyone knows that it takes a lot more than good looks, I mean good genes to do anything notable.

James doesn't have good looks; he is uglier than the giant squid. Okay maybe not… Curse James Potter's good looks for making me feel this, I am not even attracted to him, he is vile and stupid and rude and arrogant.

He then asked me out AGAIN.

This was the third time all week that he asked me out,

Todays Tuesday.

He thinks he has me wrapped around his finger, I'm not as stupid as the other girls at this school. James thinking he would actually get a yes out of me? Who does he think I am? Who does he think he is? How dare he.


	4. How He Confused Her

**She hated the way he confused her.**

James wasn't even going to deny that last night was tough. Remus' wolf form seemed especially violent and angry that night, Sirius and James had finally managed to coax him back into the whomping willow before collapsing onto the ground, exhausted.

Although it was tough, James felt victorious and triumphant. Their friend has gotten much more cheerful, relaxed and happy ever since they accompanied him during full moons.

That morning James couldn't wake up, no matter how hard Sirius and Peter had tried, James wouldn't budge.

"We're going to be late for breakfast." Peter complained.

"You go on ahead, I'll stay here with this old loaf." Smiled Sirius looking down at his sleeping friend.

"Suit yourself." Peter got up and left to go to the great hall for breakfast.

"Cmon buddy, his gone."

"Ughhhhh"

"You look like a condensed monkey while you're sleeping."

"Thanks."

"Now. Spill"

"Excuse me?"

"About Ms Evans?"

"What about her?"

"Prongs we both know that this little crush you have going has turned into something much more."

"I have no clue what you're talking about Padfoot."

"Prongs you can tell me, Its only you and I here, we are closer than the others. You can trust me with anything."

"You're right, I can trust you with anything, heck I trust you with my life. But I still don't know what you're talking about."

"Cmon James, drop the act. You really do love her, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. I really do."

"Then go for her."

"What do you think I have been trying to do all this time? Geez Padfoot, open your eyes. I ask her out every second day."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Don't go for her, drop the chase. Just act sweet, kind and helpful. Don't hex random kids in the corridors and put real effort into your work."

"But I _do _put effort into my work."

"Your essays, yes. But not your classwork."

"But classwork doesn't matter."

"Not to you, but to her."

"Mmh. Alright Pads, I'll try it. Thanks, really. For telling me, without Moony or Wormtail around. I wouldn't have been able to admit it, both to you and to myself."

"Geez that's deep. Now come give Mama Paddy a hug."

Sirius lunged forward and hugged james, he smiled and hugged him back.

He knew that they were mates for life.

Neither knew, that behind the door stood a teary eyed Peter, who put his head down and took off towards the great hall.

After that overly mushy confrontation with Sirius that morning and keeping Remus' wolf form behaved all night he couldn't keep his eyes open. The old him would've just skipped class or better yet slept during class. It was Herbology after all. But James knew that it would disappoint and infuriate Lily, so he kept his head up, answered questions and tried genuinely hard during class.

He looked over at Sirius who looked like he could drop any minute, Sirius noticed that someone was looking at him; he looked up and locked eyes with James. James smirked at Sirius who nodded and smiled.

It was almost as if they had their own language, they truly were brothers after all.

10 minutes during the lesson Remus walked slowly into the classroom. After such a hectic night for James and Sirius, Remus actually looked much better than he usually looked after his transformations.

James moved over and Remus sat down next to him, once everyone had turned around to focus on their plants, Remus leant over to James and gave him a hug and a nod.

"Thank you"

"Don't mention it."

"No seriously James, I know how exhausted you are, go back to our room and get some rest, I'll make up a story for Sprout."

"I can't Moony."

"Ahh Evans I see?"

"How did you know about that"

"Young Prongs, I know everything."

"It seems so."

Remus was about to retort another witty comeback when James quickly glared at him. Remus looked around and sure enough Lily was looking at them.

James wanted to look like the perfect student so he smiled at Lily and went back to his plant. Remus was really glad that his friend was finally growing up.

~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~

Today was a weird day to say the least. It started when I was walking down the steps to go to the common room, I say Peter leave his dorm but stand outside, with an ear pressed against the door, eavesdropping.

I quickly hid behind a curtain and watched him. It seemed as if something was bothering him, he must've been kicked out of his room so the others could discuss something. That is **SO **like James, kicking someone out of his own dorm to speak to someone.

An annoying thought came through my mind, what if Peter left the room on his own accord to see what the others would say if he wasn't present? I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. Nah, Peter wouldn't do something like that, he is either too innocent or too stupid.

Something suddenly really upset Peter and he trudged down the stairs towards the common room door, probably going to breakfast.

Today in Herbology I realized Remus was missing, I flipped my watch over and checked the lunar calendar; it was a full moon last night, poor Remus. Why do bad things happen to such good people?

Potter and Black walked in, I am usually very early for lessons and they usually come late. I checked my watch again, 3:26. What? This makes no sense, they are four minutes early.

They sat at opposite ends of the room, which is also very strange and start setting up their quills and parchment. James scans the room, looks right at me.

"Lily" He smiles and nods.

"James"

James? Acknowledging me? With a genuine smile and nod? Not even a smirk? Who are you and what have you done with James Potter?

Well actually I don't mind that much, I like him better this way.

We were about 10 minutes during the lesson and _still _nothing from James. He answers questions, joins discussions, is polite, actually does his work and gets praised upon his perfect demonstration.

I swear I have never been more surprised in my life. He looked over at Sirius and smiled to himself, something is happening, he knows something I don't. Sirius looks up and smirks and nods, what is happening? They didn't even shout something obnoxious at each other.

I swear to god I'm going to faint. That's when Remus finally shows up and I've got to say, looks amazing. I don't mean in the good-looking way, well Remus has always been pretty good looking; he just looks great health wise.

This is probably the best I have seen him the day after a transformation, James quickly moves over and makes room for him, Remus smiles and sits down. What is with everyone today? Remus leans over towards James and gives him a hug, not a "Bro hug" when they slap hands and thump backs, but a really nice, authentic hug.

James surprisingly hugs him back and smiles. I don't know why, but Remus looks really grateful towards James, he whispers something to him and James whispers back. They seemed to be having an argument, but not a rude or mean argument, more like a sweet, caring argument.

I think that James saw me looking at him; he quickly shuts Remus up, smiles at me and continues his work.

I don't know whether I like James or not anymore. He's just confusing. He thinks he can play me, he thinks he has succeeded in confusing me, which he has, I just won't admit.

Playing me like this, how dare he.


	5. How He Was Such A Distraction

**She hated the way he was such a distraction.**

James Potter woke up to an over excited, obnoxiously loud, Sirius Black.

"PROOOONGSSSIIIIEEEE POOOOOO!"

James groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.

"NO MY PRONGS YOU WILL NOT GO TO SLEEP YOU HEAR ME?"

"Sirius, I think everyone at Hogwarts heard you" Muttered Remus as he pulled his tie over his head.

"I ACTUALLY DON'T CARE, JUST GET UP PRONGS!"

"What's the big rush? We have Potions first period." James murmured as he stretched and turned over.

"Well… SOMEONE decided to make a good impression on a certain gorgeous redhead…."

"LILY!" James screamed as he threw his sheets back, jumped out of bed and ran towards his dresser.

"Ahh, young love." Sirius smiled and shook his head.

Sirius had to dodge the pillow that a laughing Remus threw towards his head.

Peter sat on his bed, in the corner of their dorm wondering what the heck the others were talking about, or in Sirius' case, screaming about. It was times like this that it was the hardest to pretend that everything was fine, that he, Peter Pettigrew was indeed, fine.

James sprinted out of the common room with Sirius and Remus laughing their heads off, hot on his tail. Peter Pettigrew wasn't with them; he took a slight, 'detour' to get to the great hall for breakfast.

No one knew then where he was, but they do now, for this quick 'detour' cost two young generous people their lives and a poor little boy, orphaned.

The three boys sprinted through shortcuts and secret passageways towards the great hall, James worried while Remus and Sirius were chasing after him, carefree, happy and laughing their heads off.

As soon as the three Marauders entered madly dashed into the great hall James made a beeline towards the Gryffindor table, sat down, helped himself to some toast, fixed his ever so messy hair and carefully adjusted his glasses.

Sirius and Remus sat beside him, breathing heavily; James went to grab another slice of toast just as Lily Evans walked in with Marlene McKinnon by her side.

James tried his possible hardest to not look in her direction, Remus realized his friends' dilemma so he passed James the butter and gave a silent nod. James smiled at Remus, nodded thanks and began to spread the butter across his toast, grateful he had something to distract him from the beautiful redhead who had just entered the great hall.

Lily and Marlene made their way towards the Gryffindor table and sat opposite the three Marauders.

"Ladies" Sirius nodded.

"Hi girls" Remus grinned.

"Lilly, Marlene" James smiled.

"Boys." Marlene replied.

"Sirius, Remus, James." Lily smiled back.

Remus silently nudged James, SHE DIDN'T CALL ME POTTER! James thought to himself, he gave himself a silent high five and did a quiet victory dance.

The girls began to help themselves to their breakfast when James blurted out.

"Watch?"

"Excuse me?" Lilly asked.

"Sorry to be abrupt, but why are you wearing a watch? Muggle electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts."

"Oh, its not a normal Muggle watch, I have informed Dumbledore about the fact that I needed a watch to be able to organize my self with my schedule, he adjusted it to work with magic instead of electricity. Without it I wouldn't be able to get to class on time and then I would miss all of the important details and I wont pass my owls and I wont get a job and I will ju…. Sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?"

James didn't admit it, but he loved it when she rambled on about things that she found pointless but James found these things so interesting, everything about Lily was so fascinating.

Lily herself was the most enchanting thing he has ever come across and being raised in a wizarding family, he saw enchanting things each day, but there was nothing as enchanting as Lily, nothing.

"Don't worry, I like rambling." James smiled. Lily look confused, then curious.

"Well then you and I will get along great."

I hope we do James thought to himself, I hope we do.

The girls got into a huge conversation about the latest Hogwarts gossip.

"Is it true that Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt, graduated when we were in fourth year having twins?" Marlene questioned.

"I sure hope so, Molly loves kids" Lily smiled.

"This one time I heard Arthur calling her Mollywobbles!" Marlene and Lily collapsed into laughter and gushing about how sweet Molly and Arthurs relationship was.

James and Sirius were in deep conversation over the upcoming Quidditch game, Sirius and James were working on team strategies while Remus sang quietly to himself as he was working on the Gryffindor playbook.

James and Sirius were having an argument over some plays when Lilly spills her pumpkin juice all over herself.

"I'm such a clutz!" She laughed at herself.

James disagreed; he thought she was one of Gods most graceful angels. His eyes shifted to Lily who was moping herself up, still shaking her head at herself and muttering quietly.

James got up from his seat and walked towards Lily.

"Mind if I help?"

"Excuse me?"

"Here, one second."

James fiddled into his pocket, picked up his wand.

"Tergeo"

All of the pumpkin juice suddenly rose off of Lily and vanished.

"Wow, thanks."

"Anytime" James smiled.

Lily looked at her watch and muttered, oh no, going to be late for potions. The three Marauders had already brought their books to breakfast, Lily and Marlene left theirs in the Gryffindor tower, which is at least a six minute walk away from the Great Hall and a 7 minute walk towards the potions dungeons.

They were all already one minute late for class and it would take Lily and Marlene 13 minutes to get there.

"Sirius, Remus. Go to class and buy us some time. We will be five minutes." James ordered.

Sirius and Remus nodded and quickly ran towards the dungeons.

"Lily, Marlene. Quick follow me."

Lily and Marlene looked confused and looked as if they were debating something, but followed James nonetheless.

James took them through a series of odd passageways and pathways that the girls hadn't even known existed.

"It's like you have the map of the school printed on the back of your hand." Muttered Marlene.

"Yeah, something like that." James muttered as his hand silently reached into his pocket as he felt the Marauders map.

"Here we are!" James announced as he stood in the common room.

Lily checked her watched.

"two minutes. It took us two minutes to get here?"

"TWO MINUTES? Hell it takes us six minutes to get to the great hall each morning." Marlene complained.

"Girls, I advise to hurry up, Remus is a good actor and Sirius is a drama queen but I bet they can't hold Slughorn for too long."

"Good point." Noted Lily as she and Marlene made a wild dash towards their dorm.

The girls emerged thirty seconds later running down the stairs with books in their hands, James didn't know what happened but Lily looked a bit different.

He took them back through the passageways and they ran into the potions room, quickly sat down just as Slughorn walked back into the room.

"Black, Lupin. There is absolutely no troll in the dungeons."

"I'm sorry sir, our mistake." Smiled Remus innocently.

"Well, after that brief interruption, I'm going to continue my lesson."

James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Marlene looked relieved. Peter, confused.

"A…a….a…..are you sure that there was no troll in the dungeons?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Wormy, it was just a prank." Sirius assured him.

"It wasn't that funny." Peter huffed silently to himself.

The only other disruption was halfway through the lesson when Lily dropped her inkpot onto the floor. James cleaned it up, but no one knew what that was about.

~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~

I woke up with one of the loudest most obnoxious voices on the planet.

It was coming from the Marauders' room.

"Sirius" grumbled Marlene as she tried to go back to sleep but was disturbed by yet another dramatic Sirius squeal.

"I swear to god Sirius black if you don't shut up…" Marlene got up and walked towards the bathroom muttering curses as she walked.

Well, at least Sirius was good for one thing. No one can EVER wake up Marlene in the mornings.

I laugh at the situation, get out of bed, stretch and follow Marlene towards the bathroom to prepare myself for the day.

It was one of the crazy mornings, Marlene couldn't find her mascara, Mary lost her school tie, Alice couldn't find her perfume and I had absolutely no idea where my conditioner went.

Marlene and I were the first to emerge out of the war-zone of our room, we gossiped our way towards the great hall, on their way I noticed a nervous looking Peter was walking alone, down a dark corridor towards the Slytherin common room. "Just some silly prank" I thought, or rather hoped to myself.

Both of us approached the Great hall and made our way towards the Gryffindor table. I couldn't help herself; something was different about James today. He looked different and was giving off a happy, entertaining vibe. I sat down across from him and Marlene followed, with a raised eyebrow, but no comment.

I noticed that James was buttering his toast with so much determination. Remus and Sirius welcomed us in their own individual ways. James looked up at me, smiled and acknowledged me. Seems like mature James is back with us today.

Marlene and I also greeted them and sat down. I noticed James do a quick jiggle, I have no clue what that was about, but I pretended not to notice.

James asked about my watch and seemed really curious about it, I told him about it but then rambled on a little bit.

I don't know what or why but there is something about James that makes my stomach flip, it gives me a feeling that I have never truly felt before, I hope it doesn't go away. It is a good feeling.

After I apologized for rambling he smiled at me and told me that he liked rambling, I have to admit, I was taken a back a bit. Old James would have just retorted a witty comment, but this James was just genuine and kind. I assured him that we would get along great, James was lost in thought for a second after that.

Marlene quickly informed me about the latest gossip while Sirius and James were arguing about Quidditch. To be truthful, I wasn't exactly focusing on what she was saying, (Sorry Marls) I was watching James out of the corner of my eye. As I picked up my pumpkin juice he was still arguing with Sirius, then he did **THE JAW THING** AND I SPILT MY FRIKING PUMPKIN JUICE ALL OVER ME.

All eyes turned in my direction, I laughed the tension off and began to mop myself up. James quickly stood up and rushed towards me, he asked if he could help me. I was completely baffled when he picked up his wand, pointed it at me and muttered a charm.

I was expecting for my legs to turn to jelly, or to be hung upside down by my ankle, instead all of the pumpkin juice vanished and I was clean.

I stared at James, incredulously.

"Thank you." I muttered, curious.

"Anytime." He smiled.

There was a brief, moment when we both just stood there staring at each other, I quickly checked my watch.

"Oh no! We are going to be late for potions!"

After I shrieked this, I felt pretty embarrassed, its not like the Marauders (Minus Remus) actually care about potions. What James did next, completely took me by surprise.

James quickly panicked and looked towards his friends.

"Go to Slughorn, buy us some time, we will be 5 minutes."

Remus and Sirius nodded, like they knew something Marlene and I didn't.

I'm confused, it takes ages to get to the Gryffindor common room from the great hall and even longer to get from the Gryffindor common room to the Slytherin dungeons.

I think that Hogwarts was programmed like this so the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's didn't tear each other apart while one was sleeping.

Good move Hogwarts, good move.

"Follow me." James looked serious, but there was something behind his eye, a mischievous glint.

Marlene and I had a silent conversation.

"Your kidding right?"

"C'mon Marls, this is James Potter, I don't think that there is a thing on earth he cannot do."

"Except catch you."

Nah he can do that, but I wasn't going to admit that anytime soon.

I just shrugged and pulled Marlene to come and follow us.

James knew the school like the back of his hand, passageway after passageway, and tunnel after tunnel. I could barely take my eyes off of him, he is so… so…., so…, so…., enchanting.

Marlene mentioned something about a map and James acted really mysterious. There is something I don't know, of course, James Potter is like a walking jigsaw puzzle.

We got to the common room in two minutes flat, I'm impressed.

James quickly rushed us, joking about Sirius' acting skills, Marlene and I rant to our room, grabbed our books an were about to leave when I quickly ran to the bathroom.

"Um Lily, now's not the best time to do a shit."

"I'm not."

Marlene walked into our bathroom and stared at me, humored.

I was quickly touching up on my makeup and putting on a bit more eyeliner.

"Ahh, young love." Marlene had to dodge the pillow I aimed at her face.

We ran down to meet James and he stared at me curiously.

"Quick girls, lets go."

We raced out of the common room and through the passageways, James at the front, leading us.

We got to the potions room and quickly took our seats.

Slughorn came in complaining to Remus and Sirius about a troll or something. Remus gave a reasonable answer while Sirius just pretended to act clueless.

Slughorn shrugged the incident off and went back to continuing the lesson.

James smiled a thank you to his friends an Remus winked while Sirius wagged his eyebrows.

Gosh, is there nothing James Potter can't do?

Catch me?

Honey I was already caught ages ago, we have all just been to naïve to notice it.

We were halfway through the lesson when I leaned over to dip my quill into my ink pot , I was distracted by James Potter who I saw through the corner of my eye. He was writing furiously, the muscles in his arm pumping up and down, I grew oblivious to what I was doing and watched his muscles go up and down.

Up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and do...

"CLACK"

The whole class spun around to seek the source of the noise, I look down and see the remains of my ink pot on the floor. Damn James Potter and his damn fit muscles, looking so damn fit shouldn't be legal; who does he think he is? Being all good looking and so distracting.

How dare he.

**A/N**

**I don't know how to leave an authors comment yet but I hope this will work for the moment!**

**I am exhausted and ready to go to sleep, just wanted to say thanks so much for the reviews! I really hope you enjoy this chapter, It's my favorite one yet.**

**I think I am improving slightly, by each fic that I write. Just quickly,**

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS OR ANYTHING YOU RECOGNISE.**

**Also I got the pumpkin spilling jaw thing off of a tumblr textpost.**

**Oh and a massive thanks to ~ Oracle987 ~ for pointing out Muggle accessories don't work at Hogwarts, I hope I cleared that up for you!**

**And before I go, I would just like to say that if you have any feedback or comments about this story please just ask.**

**Reviewing keeps me motivated as it shows that some people actually read my fics!**

**Send me love, send me hate, send me feedback, send me your pet goldfish's name I honestly don't care!**

**I love hearing from you guys!**

**Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I really appreciate it.**

**Amelia Opal**

**xxox**


	6. How He Made Her Nervous

**She hated the way he made her nervous.**

It was a full moon that night, Remus' wolf form had calmed down a fair lot more than last full moon, but he still was really fierce.

After a couple of hours, we left Remus' human form in the willow, collapsed on the floor from exhaustion by his transformation.

It really breaks my heart to leave him here, just if Sirius, Peter and I get caught, we could be sent to Azkaban.

As we trudged towards the castle under my invisibility cloak, I could've swore I saw a whiff of vibrant Red hair somewhere through a castle window.

Probably just someone's cat.

We walked through multiple passageways and up into the common room. It was strangely empty and absolutely silent.

It was a rare occasion that the Gryffindor common room was entirely silent, and then James reminded himself that it was three in the morning.

When we entered our dorm Sirius and Peter slammed down onto their beds but I had trouble falling asleep.

I was exhausted, yes. But I was absolutely starving and once I get to a point of total starvation I would get so hungry I could actually eat one of peters stingy old socks.

There was no way I am going to put myself through that, so instead I decided to go down for a trip to the kitchens.

I silently got out of bed, nicked the map from Sirius' cloak which was hanging over his bed post, grabbed my invisibility cloak and silently walked out.

I made my way down towards the common room when I stopped and sat on a couch and let my eyes get lost in the fire for a bit.

I was going to think of something really deep and inspirational but I was honestly too hungry and tired.

I grumbled, got off the couch and stretched.

My body instantly lost all of the heat the fire had given it; I threw the invisibility cloak on mostly to keep myself warm and headed out.

On my way down to the kitchens I couldn't help but think that something was not right.

I passed several odd things, such as empty portraits, scribbled up paper, crumbs and I almost tripped over a trail of bobby pins.

I kept checking the map, it was really odd. There was no one here, usually the second floor corridor would be full of teachers, head students and prefects patrolling.

It was almost _too _easy to get down to the kitchens. Except for the rotating stairs, I swear those stairs have it out for me. They are always taking different courses and moving in the opposite of the direction I wanted to go in.

I took a quick scan of my map and realized that Dumbledore was approaching around a corner.

I threw the cloak over my head and turned invisible. The stairs I was currently crouching on were moving towards the third corridor, instead of the first.

No No No No No! Filch is on third and he _always_ seems to catch me.

Dumbledore walked towards the exact staircase I was on and stood right next to my crouching form. He looked down at some rectangular object in his pocket and murmured something about ships. He looked straight at me and smiled.

"Lovely evening."

I didn't say anything. Dumbledore was a bit batty, everyone knew that. He could have just been speaking to himself.

He looked back at his rectangular object and smiled a little too deviously for a man of his age.

He raised his hand in a fist, for a moment I thought he was going to hurt me or pull the cloak off, instead he pounded on the railing of the moving stairs

1.

2.

3.

The stairs stopped in mid air for a brief moment and turned towards the opposite direction, the stairs were leading me straight to floor one.

Dumbledore looked down at me and smiled yet again.

He whistled to himself for a brief moment before the stairs stopped.

I slowly shuffled and got off the stairs, Dumbledore walking alongside me.

He winked and walked away.

Well that was weird. I know that Dumbledore is brilliant and all, but not even Death can see through the cloak.

Anyway, I shook off the thought as I slowly walked towards the kitchens. I still had that feeling, that something is different, not bad different, just different.

I walked towards the fruit bowl painting and tickled the pear, it gave its weird little giggle and the painting swung open.

The next thing I saw was just about the last thing I would expect to see in the kitchens at 3 in the morning.

Lily Evans was sitting by the fire at the far end of the room surrounded by roughly 30 – 40 house elves.

The elves were all sitting on the couch and carpet and listening with such adoration at whatever Lily was saying.

I slowly walked forward and realized what was happening.

Lily Evans was reading fairytales to a herd of adoring house elves.

This was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I quietly took a seat, far enough to not be noticed but close enough to watch Lily read.

I sat there, for I don't know how long listening to Lily Evans reading some Muggle fairytale about some girl with step sisters and she fell asleep for a long time and there was a mirror and some apple, oh and a glass slipper and something about snow.

To be completely honest I didn't listen to the fairytale at all, I stared at the house elves.

They were looking love struck, happy to have someone like her, she was like gold in their eyes, and they just looked like they were so grateful to even have met her.

I know the expression.

I see it every time I look in the mirror.

They clung to every word she ushered, the only sound was from another house elf leaving the food area of the kitchen and racing towards the fire to listen.

Some asked questions, Lily just looked at them and smiled. She was so kind, so gentle.

The only house elf that didn't join them was Tooki.

Tooki was personally my favorite house elf. She was finishing up on the dishes while listening to Lily. I realized that Tooki was rushing her work, Tooki loved to clean and I have never seen her rush with something like the dishes.

As soon as she finished, she left the tap on and went towards the fireplace.

Then I realized that she wasn't going towards Lily, she was silently tip toeing to me.

She held a slice of cake in her hands, set it down on the table, gave me a knowing look and quickly slipped back towards the sink.

I finally realized why Tooki kept the tap on, she didn't want Lily to notice that Tooki had finished; Lily would look towards Tooki's direction and spot me.

I shook his head and smiled, ahh good old Tooki.

I had just realized how hungry I had really been so I started to eat my cake.

Lily continued to read, the house elves were still listening with such awe and I continued to smile at what a considerate person Lily was.

Lily finished her book and closed it. There was a murmur through the house elves, some groaned because it was over, others ran up to Lily and thanked her, and one jumped onto Lily's lap and hugged her.

Lily laughed and hugged the house elf.

"Alright! Next week is going to be a surprise!" Lily grinned.

"A surprise!?" A house elf named Filia shrieked excitedly.

"Filia likes surprises!" Filia continued.

"Well you would like the next book I am reading!" Lily replied.

Lily lifted the house elf that was snoozing on her lap onto the couch and stood up.

As she stood all the other house elves quickly stood.

They all began to bow but Lily stopped them.

"No! No! You have all given me such a delicious dinner and you welcomed me into your kitchen. You all have allowed me to read you my favorite fairytales each week and you are all such an excitable audience. It is me that needs to thank you!"

Lily stepped towards the house elves and bowed.

Next all chaos broke lose.

"Ms Lily! SHE BOWED TO US!"

"I don't know what is so surprising Blinker, Lily does it each week!"

"She is such a sweetheart!"

"She is our sweetheart!"

A huge roar came from the house elves as they ran towards Lily and gave her the largest group hug James had ever seen.

"You're right, she is a sweetheart."

All eyes turned towards the back of the room and James walked towards them.

"James?" Lily asked, half shocked, half dazed.

"Hey Lily"

"What are you doing?"

"Listening to Cinderella" James replied beckoning towards the book Lily was holding "Duh."

"But…. Er…. James… UGH.."

"Could you please give us a minute?" Lily politely asked looking towards the house elves.

The house elves quickly scurried out thanking Lily and high fiving James on the way.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked furiously

"I could ask you the same thing." James replied.

"I asked first."

"Asking first doesn't count."

"Still, I was _here _first."

"Yeah but I was here second"

"James Potter I give up." Lily cried

"Ehm Ehm.."

James and Lily spun around to find Tooki bowing to them.

"Mrs Lily and Mr James, we have set up a table." Tooki said pointing towards a corner.

James and Lily looked towards the corner to find a shabby but cozy table with two cushioned chairs.

"Thanks Tooki." James smiled

"Yeah, thank you Tooki." Lily gazed down at the cute little house elf in front of her.

James and Lily walked towards the cozy table in the corner and sat down.

"Okay, now you _have _to tell me why you are here." Lily enquired

"Full moon, got hungry." James shrugged

Lily had discovered that Remus was a werewolf a few years ago and she recently found out that the three other Marauders are helping him through the transformations with something that they can't tell her.

"You still can't tell me what you guys get up to on full moons right?"

"Marauder secret." James answered

Lily sighed and shook her head, these boys are too cocky for their own good.

"Alright fine, but I will find out." Lily said.

"Sure you will." James smirked "now little miss Evans, how about you tell me what _you _were doing down here."

"I was reading."

"Obviously, just why?"

"Well these house elves, they work way to hard. Everyone needs to relax and have a break no matter who or what they are." Lily answered simply.

"So you come down here and read them fairytales?"

"Yup."

"But how come I haven't ever seen you down here?"

"I only come and read to them during full moons."

"Why?"

"Well I feel bad for Remus, honestly imagine having to go through that horrible transformation each month. I just feel so worthless; I can't do anything to make him better. So I focus on the things I can do, I help these house elves and I feel that if I'm helping them in some way I'm helping him."

"You truly are amazing." James whispered to himself.

"Pardon?"

"Oh nothing."

Lily breathed heavily and reached for her glass, took a drink and put it back down.

"So." She said.

"So." He replied.

"Crap!" Lily shrieked as she stood,

"We have our Herbology exam tomorrow morning! I need to get some rest." She continued.

"Come, let me walk you up to the common room." James offered.

Lily nodded and smiled as James stood.

On their way out, James saw Tooki and a group of house elves, hidden behind the couch, peering at James and Lily. James winked at them and smiled at Tooki.

He opened the door, let Lily out and closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~<p>

Lily couldn't sleep. Whoever came up with the idea that girls didn't snore had about as much knowledge as a bucket of horseradish. Marlene was on Lily's left and was snoring like freaking Shrek; Emily was on her right and kept tossing and turning in her sleep. Claire was muttering her usual nonsense sleep talk and Alice was breathing so noisily that Lily was seriously contemplating throwing her pillow at her friends face.

Every few minutes Lily would hear an anguished roar coming from her window. She flipped over her watch and checked the Lunar calendar.

"Full moon." She muttered as she put her watch down, stood and made her way towards the bundle of pillows that lay under the window. She sat on a pretty lilac cushion, gazed up and stared at the moon.

"How could something so beautiful be the cause of such horrible things?" Lily whispered to herself.

She averted her gaze from the window, to the large, neatly stacked pile of books that were placed beside her dresser.

Lily nodded silently to herself and made her way over to the beautifully decorated stories.

She knelt before them and began to file through them.

'Snow White? Nah, they'll get offended by the dwarf part'

'Sleeping Beauty? Nope read that last month'

'The Little Mermaid? No way, they cant picture mermaids as harmless creatures'

'Cinderella? Maybe, it has equal Wizard magic and some Muggle details so they wont get too confused. Cinderella is perfect!'

She took the blue and silver embroidered book and placed it in her gold bag.

As Lily made her way down the steps separating the common room from the rest of the castle, she could've sworn that she saw a stag that was accompanied by a dog. She closed her eyes, shook her head and looked back at the window; the stag and dog were gone. She laughed at her own silliness and began to make her way towards the kitchens.

That night was an especially odd night, no one was on duty or even on lookout for the castle. She didn't see any teachers or students.

"Weird" She whispered to herself.

Lily made her way to the kitchens and tickled the pear. It gave its weird little giggle that Lily couldn't help but to giggle as well.

* * *

><p>Lily was halfway through reading Cinderella to the elves and they obviously loved it.<p>

They were hanging on every word she uttered, she got so into it that she barely realized the kitchen door open and close, barely.

Lily didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she knew that she was in the same room as James Potter.

It might have been his aura, his glow, Lily might have had a spiritual connection with James Pot- Fine she might have seen his reflection in one of the mirrors that hung opposite the door but that doesn't matter.

Lily totally didn't sit up a little straighter, she definitely didn't smile at the house elves a lot more and of course didn't even flip her hair back over her shoulder a couple of times. Okay fine maybe she did, but that also doesn't matter.

After a while James spoke and Lily put on a bit of a show acting like she had just realized he was there. He seemed to buy it and they sat for a bit to chat.

Lily realized how friendly he was to the house elves. It was common knowledge that the Potters were one of the richest Wizarding families in all of Britain.

Lily didn't expect him to act all snobbish and superior, but she also didn't expect him to act all friendly and kind.

He seemed to have taken a particular liking to the sweet little house elf, Tooki.

Lily was surprised to say that she and James actually got on.

It wasn't the most interesting discussion, but the fact that they could carry on a conversation for longer than five minutes without Lily having to retain the urge to punch him in the face is quite the accomplishment.

Lily didn't understand why every word James ushered caused butterflies to fly crazily in her stomach.

She didn't even notice the time and date. How could she have managed to forget about the test the next day? Lily was just beginning to actually enjoy James' company.

Stupid Herbology.

James usually doesn't care about most of his subjects, but strangely, he also jumped up when she mentioned the test and acted like he really cared and even stranger, Lily believed him.

He even offered to walk her back to the common room; they had a really warm chat on the way up and James even walked her to the bottom of the girls staircase. They even had an almost, almost kiss moment.

_* 'Thanks, James." Lily smiled._

_"Um, yeah okay." James stuttered nervously._

_Lily went for a hug but James went for a hand shake._

_The moment was awkward to say the least._

_Lily changed her hug into a handshake while James changed his handshake into a hug._

_They ended up just standing, at the bottom of the staircase just gazing at each other._

_Lily had just become aware of the 20cm distance between them. _

_Before she could pull away, James beat her to it._

_"Goodnight." He smiled and began to walk away._

_"Yeah, goodnight" Lily called back, in a voice quieter than a whisper._ _*_

_The butterflies were back_

* * *

><p>That night, Lily couldn't sleep. She couldn't help thinking about the almost, almost kiss that she and James had almost, almost shared.<p>

Lily almost, almost wished that it had actually happened.

Almost.

What is happening to her? Loosing sleep over a guy?

What is he doing to her?

How dare she go all boy crazy on herself?

How dare she?

How dare he.

* * *

><p>~~~~~ Dumbledore ~~~~~~~<p>

(Bonus POV)

Tonight. Tonight was a good night. Yes. Yes it was.

Dumbledore saw Lily Evans walking down the stairs to the kitchens. This was the third time he had seen her walk towards the kitchens, always during a full moon and each time clutching a different book. He always tried his best to get the other patrollers away from the kitchens, to clear her path.

But tonight was different, he could feel it.

So naturally, he cleared her path completely. He even managed to convince Filch to patrol the third floor corridor and not leave his post.

Once she was in the kitchens, he relaxed slightly. But he then noticed James Potter walking down from the Gryffindor common room.

To be completely honest with himself, Dumbledore was a massive Jily shipper. McGonagall was completely against him and thought that Lily and James would never get together. But oh, how Dumbledore would prove her wrong.

Young Potter pulled his invisibility cloak over his head and disappeared on a staircase, making his way down towards the kitchens.

Seizing the opportunity, Dumbledore climbed up the seventh staircase and stood beside James' cloak form.

He mentioned something about the weather but James didn't stir.

At that moment, the stairs changed direction and instead of landing them at the first level, it took them to the third, right were Filch was patrolling.

"Oh hell to the no" Dumbledore thought "Damn Hogwarts staircase why do you keep sinking my ships?" He thought again.

Dumbledore shaped his hand into a fist and pounded the railing 3 times. The stairs quickly changed direction and took him and James towards the first floor.

Once the stairs had stopped, he walked away from James with a coy smile on his face.

"McGonagall is so going down."

* * *

><p><strong>AN **

**I am so tired! I finished this in the car on my way out for dinner! **

**I don't exactly know where this was going but I really hope that I continued with the writing style that I had started with in previous chapters. **

**Oh yeah I almost forgot, I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS OR ANYTHING YOU RECOGNISE. **

**If you had read the previous chapters, you could tell that I kind of gave up. This might be a bit of a failed attempt, if it is please tell me so!**

**I really love hearing from you guys! **

**I hope I continued with the plot and I didn't leave out any important details. It has been some time since I last updated and I really hope that I remembered everything!**

**Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I really appreciate it.**

**Amelia Opal**

**Xxox**

**P.s. I FINALLY got a goldfish! His name is Dorito and he is honestly so adorable! Someone PM me I want to compare goldfish!**


	7. How He Mader Her Love Him

**This chapter will be in multiple points of view; my aim is for you to view the story and events in other viewpoints.**

**Don't worry, I won't go all Rick Riordan on you and not have a JILY perspective in this chapter (I'm looking at you Percabeth in Blood Of Olympus.) **

**I will just have a few different perspectives so the chapters actually make sense. – I hope.**

**I love you all and enjoy.**

**-Amelia**

* * *

><p><strong>She Hated The Way He Made Her Love Him.<strong>

**Lily's POV**

Last night I was hallucinating and delusional. Not the best mixture when you're confused about love.

This is very unlike me, what is also unlikely is me having odd fantasies of James bloody Potter.

That almost, almost kiss was replaying through my head like a visual broken record.

I did a few stupid things, well I have done a lot of stupid things lately, but this is probably ranked very high on that list of stupid things.

You see, I have this diary, well it's more like a sketchpad. For months now, I have been sketching the same figure on a broomstick and messy brown hair flowing through the wind.

The Boy was on the broomstick so close to the floor and was leaning over a girl, the girl was stretching up towards the boy, his lips on hers and a perfectly happy smile on her face mirroring the smile on his.

There were pages after pages of similar sketches, the boy without a shirt with abs down to his toes and standing at the beach, the girl and boy studying in the library, with very minimal distance between them, the pair holding an adorable baby boy.

The broomstick one was my favorite, it always would be, I have yet to discover why.

The only thing that links all of the pictures together is that I haven't identified any of the faces; they're all blank, featureless and faceless. So basically how I am feeling now.

I gazed at the broomstick beauty yet again, this time an odd speculation came over me. I picked up my pencil and began to draw.

* * *

><p><strong>Narrators POV - <strong>_THE NEXT DAY_

"Pssst Prongs."

"Pssssssssst Prongs!"

"PPSSSSSSSSST PRONGSSSS"

"Sirius, please calm down."

"Remus Lupin, I will not calm down, my best mate is fast asleep in the middle of the great hall with his abnormally large head trapped inside his cereal bowl."

"Sirius, he's exhausted."

"Don't understand why, he has just gotten a whole night of rest."

"Just leave him be."

"Yeah, but look, he's getting milk all over himself. Look it's sprouting out of his nostrils and he-"

"Shhhh! Let him sleep."

"The hair Remus, think of the poor, milk infested hair."

"I don't give a flying damn about James' hair."

"Yeah, but I do."

And with that, Sirius picked up his silver fork, loaded it with a freakishly large meatball and aimed it at his friend.

"Sirius Black put that down!"

Too late.

A loud groan escaped James Potter's mouth as he lifted his debilitated head out of his bowl of 'Cheeri owls'.

"Prongs, you alright?" Remus asked anxiously.

"Ew, I have milk everywhere." James observed, completely ignoring his friends worried expression.

"Wow, I wonder why that would be." Remus commented sarcastically as James inspected his reflection using his shiny fork.

With great trouble, James continued to view his reflection through his silverware.

This wasn't working quite well, for James' fork was also wet with milk and thus made his reflection blurry and clouded.

"Sirius, can I borrow a mirror?" James asked, looking to his left at his friend.

"What makes you think I have a mirror?" Sirius asked defensively.

"Would you like me to list the reasons?" James questioned, a slight smirk playing across his face.

"Oh gosh no, we'd be here till graduation." Remus snorted.

"Oh sod off." Sirius murmured, mouth full of meatballs.

"Please, my hair feels all wet and milky. Does it look as bad as it feels?" James asked hopelessly.

"Don't worry Prongs, it's a definite improvement." Sirius snorted.

Now it was James' turn to get defensive.

"My hair is gorgeous, you're just jealous that your hair isn't this hot." James boasted.

"Yeah, a hot mess." Sirius sniggered.

"That's it."

James gasped grabbed his fork and held it dangerously close to Sirius' face.

"Take. That. Back."

Before any damage could occur, oh so responsible Remus saved the day.

"Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful." he rolled his eyes; grabbed James' raised fork and calmly placed it down.

"Now Sirius, just give James a mirror." Remus ordered, exasperated.

Sirius sighed and pulled out a large grey bag.

The bag was a softly structured satchel with a fold over front and top handle.

In conclusion, it was a purse.

"That's a handbag." Remus laughed.

"Not a 'handbag' Remus, it's called a man purse." Sirius corrected.

"No, it's actually a handbag, Sirius." James commented between sniggers.

"Do you want the mirror or not?" Sirius questioned.

"Please." James nodded.

"Better hurry up, redhead alert in 10." Remus noted, jutting his chin towards the entrance.

Lily Evans, accompanied by Marlene McKinnon just entered the great hall and was glancing across the room, looking for a place to sit.

James grabbed at Sirius' bag and filed through it, stopping at a large golden mirror.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no. NOT GOOD, THIS IS NOT GOOD." James stressed.

"Lily Evans in 8, 7, 6 –" Remus counted down.

"Quick!" Sirius ordered.

He lifted the flab from the tablecloth and forced James beneath it, hiding him out of sight.

"3, 2, 1 – Hello Lily, Marlene." Remus smiled as the two seventh years approached the table.

"Sirius, Remus, James-?" Lily questioned, looking from the two boys then towards the tablecloth, where two very long legs were poking out.

"Lily." James acknowledged sheepishly from beneath the table.

"Lils, lets go sit over there." Marlene slowly pushed her friend towards the far end of the Gryffindor table, Far away from three troublesome boys.

Once Lily was out of sight, Sirius offered his hand to James and pulled him out from below the tablecloth.

"On greater thought, the cloak would have been a much better option." Remus thought aloud, earning two loud groans from his two companions.

"I'm going to the room to have a shower." James shook his head and stood.

"Don't worry Prongs, I doubt Lily noticed." Sirius reasoned pathetically.

James rolled his eyes and left the great hall, milk still dripping across his forehead.

Once James had left, Sirius finished up the last of his meatballs and pushed his plate away from him.

"My stomach is sore." He groaned as he placed two hands on his abdomen.

"Um, perhaps it wasn't the greatest idea to eat four meatballs the size of Hippogriffs for breakfast." Remus noted.

"I'm a growing man, I need my source of protein." Sirius reasoned.

"Yes, but not four jumbo sizes of protein." Remus rolled his eyes.

"I'm going after James, he needs some cheering up." Sirius declared as he stood.

"Don't forget your purse." Remus called out as he threw Sirius' bag at him.

"IT'S NOT A PURSE, IT'S A MANBAG." Sirius called over his shoulder as he strolled towards the exit.

"No, it's a purse." Remus snorted.

"MAN BAG." Sirius defended one last time before the doors swung shut behind him.

"It's still a purse." Remus muttered as he finished the last of his waffles and went to sit with Lily and Marlene.

* * *

><p><strong>Sirius' POV<strong>

Sirius walked along the first floor corridor towards the secret passage that led straight to the Gryffindor common room. He reached into his pocket in search for the Marauders map but found nothing.

"Oh, Wormy must have borrowed it this morning." He thought.

Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew, had been spending a lot less time with the Marauders lately. The others haven't questioned he's frequent disappearances yet, but Sirius knew that something was up.

"I'm going to confront him tonight." Sirius decided.

***GROWL***

Sirius jumped at the sudden loud noise. He began to search for the source of the sound before coming to the conclusion that the sound was coming from him, or from his stomach to be precise.

"Oh, this is _not _good." He muttered to himself.

"Not good, the furthest thing from good." He mumbled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a small, golden sign with the word "Bathroom" Scribed into the center of it.

He had to get there, before it was too late.

Racing, as fast as he could, he sprinted through the door and ran towards the nearest cubicle, absolutely oblivious to the sound of a wailing teenage girl.

"Ahhhh." Sirius sighed as he let a loud one rip.

**cough cough** **cough cough**

"Huh?" Sirius thought.

"What is that awful smell?" He heard a shrill female voice complain.

What's a girl doing in the boys' bathroom? It's not like I'm complaining or anything, things should be like this more often.

"Um, this is the males bathroom." He stated.

"No, it certainly is not." The voice cried again.

"I don't know if you're either wrong or delusional but-." Sirius finished with his business and opened the door to cubicle.

He was staring into the eyes of a pale and acne ridden 14-year-old girl. She had long, dark brown hair, hazel eyes and thick circular glasses. Oh and yeah, she was a ghost.

'I didn't even flinch; I kept my pride and didn't show fear. Okay maybe a little bit, I think that my shriek could've been heard all the way up to the astronomy tower. '

Yeah, not my manliest moment, but if you had just gone to the bathroom and noticed a ghost girl staring at you, I don't think you'd be very masculine either.

"What's a _boy _doing in the _girls _bathroom?" She asked bossily.

"This isn't the girls bathroom-" Sirius took a moment to take in the appearance of the bathroom.

"Wait, where are all the urinals?" Sirius asked.

The girl just stared back at him and rolled her eyes.

"…oh." Sirius nodded slowly.

"Not the smartest, but not hard on the eyes either." The girl surveyed him.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Myrtle." She introduced,

"What are you?" Sirius corrected.

"What….. What am I?" The girl said tearing up.

"I didn't mean to make you cry." Sirius declared, quite impatient.

The girl began to moan and burst into tears. She ran towards a toilet stall and flushed herself into the toilet.

Perfectly natural, this is probably the reason girls always go to the bathroom in groups.

He couldn't leave after making this girl upset. If there is anything Sirius hated the most was not caring about the damage you have done. Sirius knew first hand what that was like, and no one should ever feel like that, like he used to feel.

"Myrtle" He said, taking a shaky breath, "I really didn't mean to offend you, please come out."

A small ghostly head peaked out from inside the toilet ball.

**Sniff**.

"Myrtle, please."

"Well okay, if you're begging for me." She said as she rose out of the toilet.

"Better?" He asked.

She gave a shy nod.

"Now, please tell me why you're crying." He offered.

"B…But don't you want to know why I'm like this?" She asked, pointing towards her ghostly form.

"Irrelevant." He said with a shake of the hand.

Sirius knew that before he touched a weak spot; better not go there again.

"Why were you crying before?" He asked again.

"Okay, so…."

* * *

><p><strong>Lilly's POV<strong>

Today I thought things might be different, I walked down to breakfast with Marlene.

She was chatting avidly to me about something very interesting. Well I think it might have been interesting if I were actually listening to her. To be truthful, I was still thinking about the almost, almost kiss last night.

In fact I didn't even slept last night, but I don't even mind, James bloody Potter is worth it.

Before I knew it we reached the Great Hall and began to look for a seat.

My subconscious instantly scanned the room, looking for something, or someone.

It seemed to have found what it was looking for because I was quickly alerted.

Remus Lupin said something to James and Sirius while jabbing his chin towards Marls and I. I quickly looked away but when I looked back I saw a tall figure hiding himself beneath the table.

I put two and two together and came to the conclusion that he was hiding from me.

Was it something I did?

Was it something I said?

Was it something I didn't do?

Was it something I didn't say?

Oh, and they call girls confusing.

I collected my thoughts in time enough to find Marlene elbowing me and walking over to the Marauder area of the Gryffindor table.

I quickly followed her, making sure not to spill my pumpkin juice.

The two, (or three) boys looked nervous when Marlene and I approached.

I bet they want us to go away.

I mentioned something about James and things got awkward.

Marlene thankfully saved me by pulling me away and as far away from them as we could get.

"Tell me." She said once she was out of earshot.

"Tell you what?" I asked, slowly taking a seat beside her.

"What happened between you and him?" She enquired.

"James? No, nothing. Don't worry, it's nothing." My pathetic excuse for a lie.

"Lily Evans you are a miserable liar, and I know something is up." She proclaimed, slowly crossing her arms.

I was slowly losing this battle, but there is no way Ill go down without a fight.

"How are you so sure? Nothing happened Marlene." I defended.

"How am I so sure? Well first of all Lily, I had my suspicions something was up last night when you kept sharpening your pencil. You only ever use pen to write, never pencil." She noted.

"I use pencil when I sketch." I pointed out.

"Exactly, and when do you sketch?" She asked, I had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"When I'm happy, overly bored during history of magic and when something is bothering me- Hey. That was a trap." It was my turn to fold my arms.

"Not the only trap Lils, I asked before what happened between you and 'him.' I never even mentioned James, that was all you." She smirked.

"B..b….but. No fair Marls!" I pushed my plate forward in anger, accidently nocking out my pumpkin juice.

Marlene lazily pulled her wand out and cleaned it up.

"Why does this always happen when you think about him?" She asked exhasperated.

"I don't know, I just guess James has that affect on me..-"

"HA!"

"What?"

"YOU MENTIONED HIM AGAIN!"

"Shit."

Marlene laughed gleefully, I didn't find it too humorous.

"Now, Ms Lily, I know something is happening." Marlene grinned at her victory.

"Did you guys do the deed?" She asked, a sly smile creeping upon her face.

"Marlene!" I shrieked, hell to the no.

"So that's a yes?" She asked, batting her eyelashes and raising her eyebrows.

I grabbed my toast and smacked her with it.

"I, unlike lesser folk , am waiting for marriage." I re crossed my arms.

Marlene just rolled her eyes and muttered.

"Peasant."

I gave her a look that meant 'Marlene shut up.'

She was about to open her mouth when Remus came from behind her and sat down in between us.

"Ladies." He nodded.

I gave him a smile, eager to drop the previous subject. But the look Marlene was giving me, clearly screamed, '_this is __**not**__ over_.'

Oh godly god.

* * *

><p><strong>Sirius's POV<strong>

The girls pursed her lips and took a deep breath.

"Okay, so it was around three in the morning and I was in the prefects bathroom playing with the bubbles of the bath."

"Why would you do that?" Sirius asked.

"Because, once you're a ghost life is boring. What else would I entertain myself with?" She asked, growing spiteful.

Sirius put his hands up in surrender and Myrtle continued.

"I felt someone in my bathroom, no one ever goes into my bathroom. So I travelled through the sewerage system to see who it was.

My bathroom was an absolute _mess_, pieces of scattered up papers littered around the room. In the center of the commotion of papers, a girl.

Red hair covering her face, her knees pulled up to her chest and sobbing.

I don't know what there was to sob about; she was fairly pretty, even when crying I must add.

I asked her what was wrong; she looked up at me and quickly jumped up. She threw all the pieces of paper into the bin and left in a hurry.

Then I went into my bathroom and began to cry, why does everyone leave me? Why is everyone afraid of me? It's not like I've killed anyone."

Myrtle looked like she was about to tear up.

"Alright, a little red-headed girl was crying last night, so what. What has that anything to do with what you crying before?" Sirius asked, quickly changing the subject before Myrtle would cry. He desperately wanted to leave, he was wasting his Saturday morning, and he didn't like it.

"Impatient." Myrtle sniffed. "Alright, I'll get to it."

"So I had finished my cry last night and woke up this morning feeling horrible. I rose out of my stall and stretched. I went towards the pipe to go to the prefects bathroom again, but something was in my way.

A small, crumpled up piece of paper." Myrtle ascended into the air and floated into the furthest away cubicle.

What have I done? Sirius thought, did I offend her?

"Myrtle… um… are you okay?" He called out.

**Sniff Sniff**

Oh bloody hell I don't have time for this. Sirius grew angry and began to walk towards the door before her felt a small ghostly light behind him.

"Hopeless." Myrtle mumbled, "Hopeless love."

Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned around.

Myrtle was floating in front of the sink, a piece of paper flying in the air in front of her.

Sirius began to slowly walk towards Myrtle.

"Um, Myrtle. What's that?" He asked.

"The piece of paper _she _left here." Myrtle replied, her voice far off, distant and sniffled.

Sirius walked beside her and scanned the drawing. It involved a broomstick so that interested him a bit, the couple snogging, not so much.

"Alright, well if that is it then I'm leaving." Sirius announced, slowly taking backwards steps towards the door.

"Lily Evans." Myrtle sighed aloud, "poor, dear Lily Evans."

Sirius froze, his hand outstretched towards the door handle.

"Myrtle, say that again." He said, his voice wary.

"Poor Lily Evans, hopelessly in love." Myrtle replied, her voice drearily dreamy.

Sirius ran back towards the sinks, where Myrtle was perched.

"Give me that." He ordered and snatched it off her.

He gasped at what he saw, smirked, and chuckled.

"There is nothing funny about hopeless love." Myrtle scoffed.

"Oh trust me, there is." Sirius said.

Before Myrtle could say anything, Sirius threw the drawing into his bag.

"Myrtle, you're the best" He said, walking towards her and attempting to hug her ghostly figure.

"You will stay in my heart forever, remember that?" Sirius said, turning his back to her and racing towards the door.

He reached the door handle and opened it.

"Oh and Myrtle, I love you so much right now." He winked.

"I'm Sirius Black, and I am the greatest bloody person who has ever lived!" He announced before slamming the door behind him and bolting off.

Leaving Myrtle in her bathroom perched atop the sink, looking absolutely smitten.

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

"Yes."

"No. Way."

"Yes way baby!"

"Don't call me baby."

"Sorry."

Sirius and Marlene were laying in front of a raging fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, the subject of their discussion, a battered sheet of paper.

The common room was almost deserted, except for a couple of people who were studying on one of the tables closest towards the staircase and for the few people who crossed through the common room to get to their dorms.

Marlene sat up from her cozy position in front of the fire and snatched up the piece of paper that lay between her and Sirius.

"Oh My GOSH!" She laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" Sirius asked, his head falling lazily into Marlene's lap.

"Just, who knew Lily actually had feelings for him, after all this time!" Marlene shook her head in wonder and disbelief.

"Always." Sirius grinned, "I knew, this whole time and I bet you did too." Sirius laughed.

"Well of course I did, I think everyone did. Well except for Lily of course." Marlene smiled.

"Nah." Sirius shook his head.

"What do you mean 'nah'?" Marlene asked, Sirius decided that she looked beautiful when she was confused.

"She knew all this time, she just wouldn't accept it." Sirius shrugged from Marlene's lap.

"Well I think she has accepted it." Marlene smirked as she indicated towards the drawing.

Sirius let out a low chuckle.

"We have to tell James!" He grinned and jumped up.

"How will you think he'll react?" Marlene asked, excited but worried.

"He'll probably faint, but it'll be amazing!" Sirius began to shake from his excitement.

"Why would him fainting be amazing?" Marlene asked, amused.

"Because after all these years of chasing and waiting and falling for her and waiting and more chasing, he'll succeed and be happy. That's why it is so amazing. Him fainting would just be hilarious."

Sirius was now jumping up and down; he pulled Marlene up from the floor and began to dance around the common room with her.

Some third years began to giggle as he waltzed with her around the room.

Marlene laughed, stopped and began to pull Sirius towards the boys dorm staircase, excited to tell James the news.

Halfway up the steps she looked back at Sirius and stopped.

"Here." She said as she offered Sirius the drawing.

"What?" He asked, not taking the sketch.

"I think you should do it."

"Do what?"

"Tell James."

"Why can't we do it together?"

"It's just that you were the one who had been with him all this time, you deserve to tell him." Marlene smiled at Sirius, with those big brown eyes and that beautiful smile, who could say no?

"Thanks Marls, you're right." Sirius smiled at took the paper from her hands.

"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." Marlene grinned and Sirius began to walk up the stairs.

"I'm expecting to hear every tiny detail." Marlene called out. Sirius stopped as he was halfway up the staircase and turned around, a smug expression of his face.

"And Sirius Orion Black if you somehow mess this moment or ruin this for my darling Lily so help me!" Marlene raised a finger in the air to emphasize her point and Sirius laughed.

"For JILY!" Sirius cried as he dashed up the boys staircase.

"For Jily." Marlene shook her head and gave a soft smile.

She knew she had done the right thing.

* * *

><p><strong>Lily's POV<strong>

It was a Saturday night and Lily was lying in her bed, tired and confused.

Why was James Potter avoiding her at breakfast?

Why hadn't she seen Marlene for the rest of the day?

She had only seen Marls that night, it was only 9.00 when Lily came into the dorm, but Marlene was fast asleep, a peaceful and happy expression on her face.

It was a Saturday and Lily had spent her whole day in the library, pathetic.

With all of her assignments finished, it left one unresolved issue still in her head.

James Potter.

James, last night, her trip to Myrtles bathroom, her drawings.

Wait a second, hold up.

Her trip to Myrtles bathroom?

When did that happen?

Why did that happen?

How did that happen?

Oh, wait.

And with that, the memory of the previous night slipped into focus.

_The previous night_

_I found myself in the abandoned first floor bathroom. I didn't know why I was there or what I was doing. All I knew was that I was clutching my notebook and freezing my ass off._

_I looked down at my book and saw a smirking face staring back up at me, the smirking face of James Potter. _

_I screamed and threw the book to the floor. I peered down it in disgust, horror, fear and another emotion I couldn't quite identify. I quickly picked the book up and held it to my chest._

_I sank towards the floor, my back pressed against the wall. What the hell was James bloody Potter doing in my sketchbook? I stared back at the page and ripped it out of the book._

_I scrunched the drawing up into a ball and threw it at the nearest toilet. Once the sketch was out of my sight, I starred back at the book once again. To my horror I found another James Potter, this time he was wearing an orange V-Neck and studying in the Hogwarts library. A huge pile of books atop the desk and a smiling redhead beside him, they looked like such a happy couple, James and his redhead. _

_I peered closer at the picture, trying to identify the redhead that was sitting alongside James. Something looked familiar, I knew that face, I __**know **__that face. I see it every time I look into the mirror. _

_I tore out the page, scrunched it up and threw it into the same toilet. _

_Breathing heavily and out of breath, I looked down at my journal again. _

_James Potter and Lily Evans having a picnic. _

_I quickly flipped through all the pages, tearing out each as I went. My mind working furiously._

_James Potter and Lily Evans sightseeing in Paris._

_James Potter and Lily Evans graduating, hands linked and smilling._

_James Potter and Lily Evans falling down the stairs together, laughing._

_James Potter and Lily Evans doing something I'd rather not mention _

_James Potter and Lily Evans on the train back to Hogwarts laughing._

_James Potter and Lily Evans sharing a snog beside the fireplace._

_I stopped when I came to the next page._

_James Potter, broomstick hovering, hair blowing crazily. Lily Evans standing on the freshly mown grass, hair whirling in the wind. James Potter leaning down on his broomstick, Lily Evans facing upwards. His lips on hers._

_Absolute bliss._

_I stopped and gazed at my surroundings. Bits of strewn up paper surrounded me, back pressed against the wall between cubicles 3 and 4. I pulled my knees towards my chest and let it all out. Tears streaming down my face as I felt the rage and fury from the past six and a half years leave my mind. _

_Between the quick jabs, the rude banter, the aggravating pranks and the side remarks that left me shaking with annoyance, I came to a conclusion. _

_I love James Potter. _

**_I love James Potter. _**

**_I, Lily Evans am in love with James Potter._**

_James, Bloody, Potter._

_I was too lost in my own thoughts to realize a ghostly figure looming over me._

_"__Are you alright?" The little ghost girl asked._

_I quickly jumped up, living or not, I will __**not**__ let anyone see me in this state, crying over __him. _

_I madly dashed around the room, flushing all the pieces of paper down the toilet and bolting for the door. _

_Leaving behind a single picture._

* * *

><p>Lily cringed.<p>

Well, wasn't that just a great way to end her horrible day?

She loves James Potter.

Maybe she had known that all along?

It doesn't matter, she knew that now.

And she has finally accepted it.

Another sleepless night wasted, thinking of James Potter.

James bloody potter.

Making her love him?

How dare he.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Authors Note:<span>**

**Dear brilliant people who inspire me to continue writing.**

**I have taken an absolute millennium since I last updated.**

**And I'm SO SO SO SUPER SORRY.**

**I went on holiday for four weeks (And I haven't updated my profile yet, whoops I should probably change that!) and then I had to go back to school, ew. **

**I have been up to my neck in homework and assignments and impressing my new teachers and avoiding mean girls that I had no time to do anything.**

**Like seriously I haven't read ****_anything _****in the past two weeks and I'm beginning to lose my mind. **

**Anyway, enough about me. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**It started off strong and I think it got kind of weak towards the end.**

**Whoops! I tried really hard on this and I think I put the most effort into this story than any of my others.**

**Happy Belated New Year!**

**My new years revolution is to not be a lousy person/author and actually update my stories.**

**So yeah, this author's note has officially lost its formalities (As if it had any to begin with.) So I'd like to end by saying thanks.**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following. **

**I've been so horrible with updating and editing but you've stuck with me nonetheless. **

**I love you all so much and I hope you all have a magnificent new year.**

**That's all from me for now,**

**Yours faithfully,**

**Amelia and Dorito.**

**xxox**


	8. Did She Ever Really Hate Him?

_Perhaps she didn't hate him so much after all..._

**Narrators' POV**

James Potter and Sirius Black were sitting at their usual spot on the Gryffindor table, both decked out in Quidditch robes and eating furiously.

James reached across the table to grab his seventh slice of bread while Sirius was busy eating his second hippogriff sized meatball.

It was just then when Remus entered the hall, playbook in his arm and bearing a massive grin that lit up his features.

"James, Sirius!" He called out as he ran towards the Gryffindor table.

A few curious heads turned round to look at him. Running and shouting were very Marauder like actions, but never for Remus.

"I finished it! It's bloody marvelous!"

Remus reached the Gryffindor table and ran to sit opposite his friends.

He threw the playbook in front of the other two Marauders and smiled excitedly.

James immediately picked up the red and gold playbook and flipped through it exuberantly. Sirius who was peering over James' shoulder let out a low whistle

"Dogs Bollocks Moony, this is bloody brilliant!" Sirius' voice was loud enough that a majority of the Gryffindor table could hear.

"What's that? Henry Wood, the Gryffindor keeper appeared behind James and Sirius.

"Remus' brilliance!" James grinned as he passed the book back to Remus.

Remus blushed a brilliant shade of scarlet and began to help himself to some toast.

Sirius picked up his fork and loaded it with another meatball.

With insane karate-chopping skills, the meatball flew out of Sirius' hands and into Remus'.

"Oii!" Sirius bellowed angrily.

"Again Sirius? Even you must know better than to eat meatballs for breakfast." Remus argued bossily.

"…but-"

"No buts, Sirius Orion Black I will not have you vomiting while you are 10 feet into the air, do you understand me?"

"Yes, mother."

"Good. Now James, please give Sirius some toast."

"Sure, mom."

Remus breathed heavily and began to spread some jam on his toast.

* * *

><p><strong>Lilly's POV<strong>

Marlene was acting especially jumpy this morning, must be quidditch nerves!

Even I'm nervous, and I'm not even on the team. It's not like we need to be nervous though, James Potter is not one to lose, and if he's captain of his team then you can bet anything that he whipped all their asses into shape during training.

And I for one know that he has, each night after practice Marlene practically flops onto her bed and moans. I always ask her what's wrong and on the nights when she actually has some energy left, she responds with;

"James Potter."

I know what that's like.

Anyway, this morning we were walking down to breakfast and Marlene was basically bouncing.

"Quidditch nerves?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can say that." She grinned.

We reached the doors to the great hall and just as we were about to walk through, Sirius walked out.

"Marlene, a word?" He murmured, his expression seemed neutral, but his tone was urgent.

"Sure. Lils, go on without me?" She asked sympathetically.

"Yeah, anything I should grab for you?" I enquired.

"Just two slices of toast and some of that jam that I love." She answered, her voice growing distant as she began to follow a worried looking Sirius.

I nod, more to myself than to her. Marlene was already meters away; her back turned away from me, I sigh and enter the great hall.

* * *

><p><strong>Marlene's POV<strong>

"Sirius, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" I ask as we walk through one of the doors leading to the second-floor staircase.

He didn't reply.

"Sirius!" I called as I grabbed his arm and yanked him back. We both stopped walking.

"I can't believe it." He muttered.

"Can't believe what?" I asked, growing irritated.

"James. He barely reacted last night." Sirius shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

"No jumping, no excitement. Just a small smile on his face and a 'Thanks, Padfoot.'"

"You think he's over her?" I asked,

"…" He gave me a look.

"Impossible," I claimed as my arms immediately crossed over my chest.

Sirius shrugged.

"You must've stuffed it up somehow, gosh why the hell did I trust you with this?" I groaned as I moved aside to let a 3rd year Ravenclaw pass.

"I stuffed it up? How on earth could I possibly stuff up something this simple!"

"Believe me, Sirius, you'd manage."

"Hey!"

"Look, us arguing isn't going to do anything, what should we do?"

"Nothing."

"What? Why?"

"Well, we interfered before and look where that got us."

"Good point."

"And if I know James, which I do, very well in fact. I'd know that he probably has something in mind."

"Like he's planning something?"

"Exactly."

"When do we find out?"

"Soon. I hope."

"He better do something soon, I don't know how long Lily can manage, her feelings are getting stronger each minute."

"Please Marlene, James went through this for the past six and a half years of his life, I'm sure Lily can handle a few more weeks."

I stopped, looked around and gasped.

"Lily! Oh god, I forgot! She must be inside the hall, alone and nervous. SHIT!"

I looked back at Sirius,

"I'll come with." He nodded.

And we both sped towards the great hall.

* * *

><p><strong>Mary Macdonald's POV<strong>

_[ A/N: Introducing Character- Please don't confuse with Marlene! ]_

So get this, I'm eating my breakfast precisely 6 seats away from the James Potter.

He's wearing his quidditch gear - looking especially fine and my gosh, can that guy eat toast.

I swear I have never been so attracted to toast in my life.

He should be one of those television advertising people they have in the Muggle world. I will buy anything he's promoting, even that skanky Marlene Mckinnon.

Ugh, she is always all over Black, it's disgusting.

So when she walked into the great hall this morning and Black immediately shot out of his seat and practically ran towards her, I knew that they had done the deed.

In fact, they are probably off in some dirty old supply closet at this moment doing god knows what.

I caught a glimpse of long red hair flick from behind the great hall door, she walked into the hall with her head down and fiddling with her silver watch. Although I barely saw her properly, I knew exactly who she was.

If there is anyone I despise more that Marlene McKinnon, it's Lily Evans.

Thinking she's all sweet and innocent, oh kind little Evans gets top marks in potions again, pretty little Lily aced the impossible charms test… And it goes on.

But the worse thing about vile Evans is that James Potter is completely infatuated with her, and what's even more wicked is that she knows – AND ISN'T DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

Well, if you call hexing and insulting him not doing anything. The girl doesn't even realize how lucky she has it, waltzing into the great hall, knowing his eyes are on her.

When the rest of us, lucky enough to sit six seats away from him, are drooling for even a third of the attention he gives her.

So when her eyes scanned the table to find somewhere to sit, I took advantage of the spare chair that Sirius left.

"Lily!" James called to her, Lily snapped out of her trance and saw him.

He made a waving gesture; she gave a small smile and began to walk towards Sirius' empty seat – which was now not so empty.

"Mary." She smiled sweetly at me.

"Lily." I sneered from Sirius' seat, there was no way I'm going to fall for this little nice act.

"Lily!" James smiled.

I didn't even get a smile, and I'm sitting right next to him.

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but I quickly cut her off.

"James dear, please pass me the pumpkin juice." I smiled sweetly at him.

He seemed to find something about that amusing because he gave a secret laugh and passed the jug.

Lily took a small breath and was just about to talk when I cut her off again.

"So James, quidditch today!"

"Yep." He said, looking at me.

Finally! I had his attention. The only way to get his attention was quidditch… what a man!

"Nervous?" I asked, still completely aware of Lily's shifting figure behind me.

"Not really actually, we've all trained really hard and I think we have a good shot of winning this thing!"

"Well of course we do! We're Gryffindor!" I giggled and tossed my silky blonde hair over my shoulder.

James raised an oh-so-well manicured eyebrow and I felt a small hand on my shoulder.

"You know Mary, I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?" Lily smiled at me, she was still standing but to my horror, looked a lot more comfortable.

"Yeah. Good." I smiled through gritted teeth in hope to give off the vibe that I truly don't want to speak to her.

"That's so great!" Lily smiled at me from the seat beside me.

What the actual hell? How did she get there? This entire table is jam-packed full of students, and she gets a prime position. So much for me trying to make this awkward for her.

"You know what would be great?" I asked, a sly smile played on my face.

"What?" She grinned excitedly.

"If whores like that," I say beckoning over to the great hall door that Marlene and Sirius were running through, "Didn't go to a school like this." I finished.

That pissed Lily off, ah strong sense of loyalty. How brilliant, so easy to set her off!

She looked at me with a horror filled expression.

I mock-smiled and took a drink of my pumpkin juice.

I looked over at James, he was shocked. What can I say; I guess I just have that effect on guys.

"Take that back," Lily whispered quietly.

"Take what back? The truth?" I sneered.

"Mary Macdonald you should take less time on your makeup and more time on your attitude." She whispered.

Ooooh, scary Lily! That was obvious sarcasm by the way. That girl could scarcely scare away a fly.

"Evans, you're talking like an idiot." I rolled my eyes.

"That's because if I had spoken regularly you wouldn't have been able to understand, Macdonald."

Her voice was full of venom and I saw something in her features I had never seen before, she was fierce.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" James asked loudly.

It took me a minute to realize that the entire great hall had gotten silent.

"Let us finish," I said.

"But… -"

Lily gave him a look that clearly meant that she could handle me. (Hah as if!)

"Alright sure." James finished as he leaned back into his chair, slightly confused.

Ahh, he looked so gorgeous when he was confused.

"Lily I'd slap you, but I don't want to get slut on my hands." I smirked, looking away from handsome James potter, to vile Lily.

That shut her up.

"Why not?" She quickly retorted, "You already have it all over your outfit."

A few kids in the hall giggled, one gasped and the sexiness that is James Potter, let out a long whistle. I couldn't believe it; she still had all his attention.

But I knew exactly how to get it – Go big or go home eh?

I reached for my pumpkin juice…

**SPLASH**

Lily gasped in horror and slowly looked down at her once flowery white shirt, which was now entirely covered in pumpkin juice.

That shut everyone up.

Lily looked up at me as she wiped some juice off her cheek.

James stood to face the rest of us, clearly about to defend her - but before he could Lily spoke first.

"Look, Mary, I don't know what you're getting at here. You can be rude to me all you want, just don't say anything about my friends." She shook her head and reached for a napkin.

"Lily.." James started.

"Please." She sighed and began to walk towards the door.

Just as she made her way away from the Gryffindor table, Marlene and Sirius rushed in through the entrance.

"Lilly!" Marlene screeched.

"Gosh, I leave you for 5 minutes." Marlene shook her head.

"What?" "Why?" "How?" Marlene scanned the great hall.

"YOU!" She screamed.

I looked up and saw Marlene darting towards me; I looked at my hands and realize that I was still holding my now empty glass of pumpkin juice.

"Shit," I whispered.

"Yeah shit, that's right." She said and snatched the glass from me and held it dangerously close to my face.

"Stop!" James called.

We both stopped. Lily was at the door, Sirius consoling her.

"She just wants a fight Marls, walk away." He reasoned.

"But.."

"Walk away."

This was new, James Potter who always wanted to start a fight (and end them I might add) - was actually trying to stop one. He must have been serious, apparently Marlene thought so too.

"Fine." She said and ran back to Lily.

I smiled; I got rid of both of the sluts!

I deserved a Muggle Oscar for that performance!

I smiled up at James, caught his eye and tossed my hair.

"Too many freaks, not enough circuses… am I right?" I glanced at James and winked.

He looked as if he really wanted to punch me, gosh even self-control looked amazing on James.

"I'm going to prepare for quidditch." He stood, glared and walked towards the door, Lily and Marlene had gone, and Sirius followed James out.

That went well, I reached over to James's abandoned slice of toast and took a bite.

Completely aware of the entire great hall, which was now completely focused on me.

Just the way it should be.

* * *

><p><strong>Lily's POV<strong>

I nervously twirled my wand in my small, clammy hands as Alice started on my makeup.

Marlene and the others helped me to clean up after the spiff with Mary. They all cursed very colorfully about what they thought of Macdonald, I scolded all of them for it, but I didn't hide my pleasure very well.

Anyway, we were all just getting ready for the upcoming Gryffindor game in our dorm room, I was sitting in a swirly chair, facing away from the mirror and Alice was leaning over me, fixing my makeup.

Marlene and Emmeline were in front of our closet painting their nails, and who knew where the hell Elizabeth was.

"Promise you won't make me look like a clown?" I begged as I gazed pleadingly into Alice's shining eyes.

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"oooh! Cold!"

"Hot! Too hot! Alice IT'S TOO HOT!"

"That tickles!"

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"I swear to god Lily if you don't shut up." Marlene shook her head.

She glanced at Emmeline Waters who was giving me the same humored look, they were painting their nails red and gold.

"Marles, why aren't you with the rest of the quidditch team?" Emmeline asked, finishing her top coating.

"James only had to speak to the boys about it, he let the girls 'go and get ready'" Marlene rolled her eyes.

"What a sexist pig." Alice murmured.

"What a sexy pig," I whisper.

Alice snorted so hard she dropped the eyeliner pencil.

"Damn!" Elizabeth called from the closet.

Oh! That's where she was! It made enough sense; Elizabeth loved all things fashion and spent most of her time improving our ever-growing closet.

It was just a regular closet but during second year we all found that it was much too small to fit all our things into it. Marlene convinced (well, she somehow managed to intimidate) a few sixth years to magically expand it for us.

Including all of our little twigs to it, It's probably as big as the dorm room itself and has it's own magically enchanted music player and clothing organizer!

"You alright Eli?" Alice asked, still leaning down, applying my makeup.

"No! I am not alright!" She emerged from the closet wearing a blue top and a white skirt.

"Does this look any good?" She asked, beckoning to her clothes.

Elizabeth, with her tall, tanned and slender figure, straight chocolate hair and beautiful almond eyes would look amazing in a bloody sack.

"You look great Eli!" I smiled and tried to turn to face her, but Alice grabbed the chair and yanked it back.

"Gosh Lily you just made me smudge your mascara! I have to start all over again!"

We both groaned and Alice grabbed some makeup remover.

"You know Alice I can just fix it up with magic…" I reason.

"No! I am determined to do this the Muggle way!" Alice took a deep breath and got back to work.

"Guys! Please, I need opinions!" Elizabeth demanded.

"I can't quite see!" I laughed.

"Don't talk Lily! I don't want to mess this up!" Alice groaned.

Emmeline stood and blew on her nails.

"Dry!" she exclaimed.

She looked up at her friend and grinned.

"Wow Liz, you look amazing!" Emmeline admired as she beckoned for her friend to spin.

"Thanks!" Elizabeth beamed and did a little twirl, "Now hurry up! We have to find things for the rest of them to wear!"

"Um, I think we are perfectly capable of choosing our outfits on our own thanks," Marlene muttered as she fixed a gold nail polish smudge.

"Yeah but by the time the rest of you finish and choose what you're wearing, the game would be over! Just a little time saver that's all!"

Marlene spoke slowly as if she was explaining instructions to a toddler.

"But I'm only wearing quidditch robes, remember. I'm a beater." she sighed as she finished painting her right hand.

"Yes. But you're going to need something for our victory after-party, aren't you?" Elizabeth leaned against the wall and folded her arms.

"You won't be wearing your quidditch robes while snogging Sirius Black?" Elizabeth continued, giggling.

"She's got a point," Emmeline stated.

"Fine, but make sure it's tight," Marlene ordered.

"Only the sluttiest for you, my dear." Elizabeth mock-curtsied, and ran back into the closet. Emmeline followed after her, laughing heartily.

"What the hell are we going to do with her?" Lily giggled.

"STAY STILL!" Alice screeched, earning a loud snicker from Marlene.

* * *

><p><strong>Alice's POV<strong>

It took me an entire hour to finish Lily's makeup. She's like a little worm, she seriously can't sit still.

I just hope James has something special in mind. Marlene told me everything, about Lily, the picture, and James.

I have a slight feeling that I know what he's going to do, but I'm not going to say anything.

He better do something tonight though, Lily looks absolutely radiant!

Elizabeth picked out a few outfits for us. Lily's was a black skater skirt with a fitted black and white striped tee. A beige wool scarf to wrap around her neck for warmth and a pair of thin black tights (that were more fashionable than practical) that would look great on her slim legs, Elizabeth finished the outfit with a beautiful pair of brown boots and a cozy black coat.

Lily changed into her outfit and demanded a mirror.

"Not yet!" I cried, "Just give me a minute!"

"A minute?" She groaned, "You have taken 12 bloody years!"

"One hour, actually, patience Lily!" I laughed.

I touched up her silky red hair and spun the mirror around to face her.

Lily let out a soft gasp, as did the rest of us. She looked utterly stunning.

James better be impressed, even up from 30 feet in the air, she'd be noticeably beautiful.

I look down at my shabby cardigan and groan.

"Lils! I forgot all about me! The game is in an hour and we haven't even eaten yet!" I sighed and slowly pulled out my wand.

"But what about the no magic rule?" Lily asked mockingly.

"You know what the Marauders always say." I grinned as I heard Elizabeth deep in the cupboard, picking out something for me to wear,

"Rules were made to be broken."

I picked up my wand and placed the tip on my hair.

* * *

><p><strong>Frank Longbottom's POV<strong>

_[A/N: I know Frank had graduated by the time James was quidditch captain, but for the sake of this chapter, imagine him the same age as the Marauders - ALSO I LOVE HIM SO HE DESERVES TO BE IN THIS!]_

"You all must be wondering why I called you here today," James announced as he paced up and down the stands of the quidditch pitch.

We were all sitting in the front row of the stands, watching James curiously. He had called for all the boys – and only the boys, of the Gryffindor quidditch team. At first we all thought that it was to prepare for the game, which was in roughly 2 hours. But we all knew something was up when Sirius didn't show.

"I have a favor to ask you all." He smiled at us once he stopped pacing; there was something familiar in his eye.

It looked like the very same twinkle Dumbledore gets when he's up to something.

"Yeah James, anything." I offered as I looked up at my quidditch captain.

After all these years, he has done so much for me, helping me with transfiguration, giving me extra flying tips so I could impress my father, and even helping me catch my beautiful Alice.

I owed him everything.

"What I'm about to ask, you mustn't say anything to anyone. – Not even Sirius." James' voice grew eerily quiet.

We all slowly leaned in; eager to listen to this important secret he had to share.

* * *

><p><strong>Narrator's POV<strong>

Once the girls were ready, and Marlene had changed into her quidditch robes, they descended towards the common room.

"Marles' what are you supposed to do now?" Emmeline asked - her arm linked tightly with Lily's.

"I don't know. We just have to be in the preparation room at least 20 minutes before the game." Marlene shrugged as she finished braiding her hair.

"You should probably go ask Sirius." Elizabeth offered.

"But Sirius is with James and the rest of the quidditch team," Marlene replied.

"Um, no he actually isn't," Elizabeth remarked.

"And how exactly do you know that, Eli?" Marlene asked doubtingly.

"Because, he's sitting in front of the fireplace with his head bent over some parchment." Elizabeth jutted pointing to a crouching shadow in front of a warm fire.

"What the hell?" Marlene asked as she stepped off the last step and rushed towards the fireplace.

"Sirius?" she asked, looking down at the hunching figure.

"Marlene." He replied, not looking up.

The rest of the girls began to crowd around Sirius, but Marlene waved them away.

"Go to the great hall without me, I'll be down for dinner in a few." She stated, still not looking away from Sirius.

"Okay Marles, hope everything here is alright." Lily smiled, hesitantly and hastily shoved her friends away from the fireplace and through the portrait hole.

"Lily's a good friend," Sirius muttered, still not looking up at Marlene.

"Yeah, something you're not being right now. Sirius, what's wrong?" Marlene asked worriedly.

Sirius moved over, making room for Marlene. She skeptically sat down, the warmth from the fire immediately engulfed her body and she gave a small sigh.

"Warm eh?" Sirius observed, finally taking his eyes off the parchment and onto Marlene.

He gave a long whistle and despite herself, Marlene blushed.

"Never knew one could look so good in a quidditch uniform, Black?" Marlene asked teasingly.

"No, I've seen a mirror before, I'm just surprised that I'm not the only one who manages to pull off the hot uniform thing." Sirius winked and looked back at the parchment.

Usually he would go on to tease her more, Marlene decided that something was truly wrong with Sirius, then she realized why she had come here in the first place.

"Sirius, why aren't you with the rest of the quidditch team?" Marlene asked anxiously.

"The same reason you aren't." Sirius shrugged.

"Because you're a girl? My gosh Sirius, I have known you for seven years and the thought had crossed my mind quite a lot. It's great that you're finally accepting the facts yourself." She laughed.

"No, I mean James didn't ask me to come, in fact, I don't think he wanted me to find out," Sirius replied.

"But… why?" Marlene asked.

"That's exactly what I want to find out. James is down by the quidditch stands now." Sirius declared.

"How do you know that?" Marlene enquired.

"I just do, okay?"

"Alright, sorry I asked."

"So, what do you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, what do you think he might be doing?"

"Me? I think he's planning something."

"I had my suspicions. So, what should we do?"

"Nothing."

"Excuse me?"

"Goodness Sirius, this conversation is giving me déjà vu."

"Whatever, but why shouldn't we interfere?"

"I think that it's really not our business anymore."

"Not our business? As James' best mate, everything he does is my business."

"And as Lily's best friend everything I do is for her best interest. There's a difference."

"So what are we going to do? Sit around here all week and wait for either of them to do something?"

"I don't think it'll take a week."

"What? A month?"

"Nope."

"A year!?"

"I'd say, a night."

Marlene stood smoothly and made her way towards the portrait hole.

Sirius remained on the floor, in front of the fire, waiting for what Marlene had just said to sink in.

"WAIT A SECOND!" He shouted as he jumped up.

Too late, Marlene had left and was out the door, Sirius managed to catch one last glimpse of long, blonde hair before the portrait swung shut.

He shook his head and sighed,

"Bloody hell, Women."

* * *

><p><strong>Marlene's POV<strong>

I walked out of the portrait door with such satisfaction! You should have seen the look on Sirius' face when he realized. He probably doesn't know exactly what James is going to do – boys are stupid that way. All he knows is that something will happen tonight, I hope he's content with that, but knowing Sirius he probably won't be.

I had to rush the game along before James or Sirius could mess this up for themselves, or Lily. I broke into a run towards the great hall. I had managed to memorize some of the passages from that trip with James ages ago.

I reached the great hall and rushed towards where my friends were sitting. They were laughing at something.

"What's so funny?" I asked as I tried to find the source of their amusement.

"The Marauders! Minus James and Sirius." Alice laughs, jutting her chin in the direction towards Remus and Peter, eating their food quietly.

"They look so lost!" Emmeline giggles.

Emmeline was right, they did look lost. Remus was staring into space while eating sloppy porridge. Porridge, at 7.30 pm? Don't look at me, It's Remus – the guy makes zeros sense. Peter was staring at his hands and wasn't eating anything. Peter, with no appetite? What is with them today? Both looked as if their souls were now an empty void.

"Why do they look so down?" I asked as Elizabeth moved over to make room for me at the table.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually glad that Potter and Black exist. (shocking, right?) Without them, their friends and most of this school would be uninspired. It will all be so... dull." Lily murmured dreamily.

She hastily snapped out of her daze and quickly muttered;

"Oh gosh I just got all soppy, don't tell Potter"

Elizabeth and I laughed as Alice snapped her fingers in front of Lily's face, assuring she's out of her trance.

It was at that point when Sirius decided to enter the main hall, and he did so rather dramatically I might add. He strut across the hall towards his friends and sat opposite me.

He caught my eye and glared, his brain must be working furiously as to what I know. I winked and grinned smugly, returning my focus to my friends.

Lily checked her magically operated watch and gasped.

"Marlene! The game starts in twenty minutes! You have to go!

"Shit" I groaned and jumped up.

I snatched up my bag, grinned at my friends and glanced up at Sirius, who was scoffing down one of those massive meatballs again. I wonder why they even cook them anymore, no one except Sirius and maybe Hagrid ever eat them. Sirius probably bribed those poor house elves.

"Wha..?" He asked, looking up from his meatball.

"Remus? You're letting him eat meatballs?" I asked disappointed,

"Who am I? His mother?" He snapped up at me.

"Well someone is going to have to be, It's Sirius - he's a danger hazard to himself and everyone. And Sirius, you do know that you're allergic to meatballs?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Oh." He muttered.

"Uh, I don't have time for this. Sirius, we have to be on the field NOW!"

I sprinted round to his side of the table, pulled him up from his seat and dragged him towards the door.

"Good luck Marles!" Lily shouted after me as I struggled to push the beef-headed moron (known as Sirius Black) out the door.

* * *

><p><strong>James' POV<strong>

"Sirius? Marlene? You guys are 6 minutes late!" I screamed as Marlene and Sirius raced in through the tent flap.

"Sorry…. Meatballs." Sirius breathes.

I looked up at Marlene, confused. She waved it off.

"Anyway, just sit." I sighed.

They broke apart, Sirius sat beside Frank, and Marlene joined a few of the other girls on the team.

It seemed like those two have had enough of each other for today.

"Okay team," I said, getting my energy back. "As you know we're going to go out there and whip Slytherin's bloody asses."

This got a reaction out of my fiery team.

This was our last game of the season, my last game with my Hogwarts captainship and we're playing our most hated rivals.

Isn't that the most stereotypical thing in the world?

But I don't mind, in fact, I'm actually kind of pumped. My last Hogwarts game and I'm going to smash my enemies one last time.

A loud boom came out from the speaker.

"HELLO HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY AND WHAT A GAME IT IS GOING TO BE! SLYTHERIN VS GRYFFINDOR! WOW, WE GRYFFINDORS ARE GOING TO WHIP ASS!"

The Gryffindor quidditch team chuckled at the biased Gryffindor commentator, Alex Jordan.

"Mr. JORDAN!"

"Here we go again" Remus laughed quietly.

"RIGHT, SORRY PROFESSOR MCGONNAGAL. CAN'T I SHOW A LITTLE BIT OF TEAM AFFECTION? YOU SURELY DO!" Alex Jordan declared.

I could visualize Professor McGonnagal's disapproving glare.

"ALRIGHT, HERE IS THE SLYTHERIN TEAM IN ALL THEIR SLIMY GLORY! BEATERS: MAXLEY AND AVERY, CHASERS: MALFOY **[A.N. Yes I know he graduated before but shhhh]**, BLACK AND ROBERTS, KEEPER: ROSIER AND THEIR CAPTAIN, SEEKER: LUCINDA TALKALOT"

A loud cheer from the Slytherin supporters was heard as the Slytherin team slowly walked up to the field.

"Um, Prongs now is the time for the pep talk.." Sirius reminded.

"Right, sorry." I shook my head.

I jumped up onto the bench and took a good look at my team.

Here it is, the pep talk I was waiting to give all year, I slowly took out my speech cards and with one look at my team - threw them to the floor.

I decided that no amount of planning should go towards something like this, a pep talk is supposed to inspire - not be planned.

I took a deep breath in, and began.

"Most of you have been playing Quidditch for a good number of years now. I want you to take a moment, and think about all the people who have helped you in your Quidditch journey through the years. Think of all those people who have influenced you... your parents, siblings, and family; Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, EVEN those bloody Slytherins. Take this time to remember all of them."

Each member of my team looked deep in thought.

"Remember the lesson where you learned to fly for the first time. Remember the others who played with and against you to make you who you are today. Remember the fans and supporters who cheer you on no matter what. Remember the adult who played Quidditch with you as soon as you learned to walk. Remember the family member who encouraged you to go on when you wanted to quit. Remember your parents who bought your first broom. Take this time to remember all of them."

I heard a sniffle from my far right, I could see a few teammates deep in thought and I think I even saw bloody Marlene shed a tear.

"Now, I want you to pick one person, one special person who in your mind sticks out above the rest. Someone who has helped you more than the others. That person who is most responsible for you being here in this preparation room today. You are going to dedicate your performance to them. This is your day to honor them, to repay them for all that they sacrificed for you! Keep that person in your thoughts as you play, so that when the final snitch is caught, you will know you did them well and did them proud." I finished.

I jumped down from the bench and looked at each one of my teammates.

"Today, I'm going to be playing for all of you. Who are you going to be playing for?" I asked.

Every player looked back up at me, as if to ask me; what now?

"NOW WHO ARE WE?" I shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!" They all screamed back.

"WHO ARE WE?" I shrieked.

"GRYFFINDOR!" They cheered.

"AND GRYFFINDOR DOESN'T LOSE! NOW LET'S GO OUT AND WIN THIS!" I finished.

And my beautiful team, in all its glory began to stride out of the tent, one by one.

"Ready for a game you'll never forget?" I looked to my right and there was Sirius.

My teammate, my greatest friend, my brother.

I took a deep breath in, smiled to myself and looked at him.

"I'm ready." I grinned.

And with that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the tent.

We walked onto that field, hand in hand.

We walked onto that field as brothers and I can't imagine a more perfect way to begin my final game.

* * *

><p><strong>NARRATOR'S POV<strong>

The roaring of the crowd echoed in James' ears, his eyes bright with excitement and his grin lit up his features.

The smells of leather, freshly mowed grass and sweat invaded his senses - Ah the aromas of Quidditch.

"This is your final game, James." He whispered to himself, "Make it count."

"AND THE CAPTAIN OF THE GRANDEST TEAM IN THE WORLD, GRYFFINDOR - OF COURSE! IS JAMES POTTER!" The commentator boomed.

James looked up at the stands, broom held firmly in his right hand.

There were a few boo's from the Slytherin stands, but the cheers and applause drowned out the negative noises.

James grinned at his house and raised his broom arm in the air.

"YEAHHHH!" He screamed, his voice full of enthusiasm

James noticed a bit of a commotion from up in the stands, it seemed like McDonald fainted, 'I guess I just have that effect on women!' He thought cockily to himself.

"LADIES THAT'S RIGHT, POTTER IS SINGLE. OH AND BY LADIES I MEAN LILY EVANS. RIGHT EVANS, YOU BETTER HURRY UP BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT YOU TRULY LOVE HIM, DEEP, DEEP, DEEP, DEEP, DE-"

James chuckled as he felt his hands grow even sweatier. Just the name made him nervous, Lily.

"EP, DEEP, DEEP, DEEP, D-"

From up in the stands, Lily blushed deep scarlet.

"EEP, DEEP, DEEP -"

"OII SHUTUP ALEX, GROW UP!" Amelia shouted from beside her friend.

"DEEP, DEEP, DEEP, -"

A few Hufflepuffs giggled at Amelia's anger.

"DEEP DOWN."

"Please, Mr. Jordan." McGonagall snapped from behind the mischievous commentator, "Do shut up."

There was no way McGonagall was going to lose this bet, Lily better not fall for James. If she does, McGonagall wouldn't hear the end of it from bloody Dumbledore.

"RIGHT, SORRY. MADAME HOOCH HAS THE WHISTLE! WHENEVER YOU'RE READY MADAME HOOCH!"

"Yes, right thanks for that introduction Mr. Jordan." Madame Hooch chuckled from the pitch.

"ALRIGHT GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN, I WANT A NICE CLEAN MATCH!" Madame Hooch ordered.

"Pffft..." Sirius chuckled, "As if that's ever going to happen."

Lucius, who was standing in front of Sirius, spit on the grown at his feet.

"OH? - " Sirius growled, "YOU WANNA GO?" He dropped his broom, "YOU WANT TO FRICKING GO?" Sirius cracked his knuckles.

"Sirius, no." James ordered, pushing his friend back, "Save it for the game."

Sirius took a deep breath and nodded. "Right James, better mortify these scum up in the air while everyone can see them - and win at the same time."

"Kill two snakes with one stone, eh?" Frank chuckled from behind James.

"BOYS." Madame Hooch shouted, "MOUNT YOUR BROOMS."

James climbed onto his broom and got into take off position

This was his final Hogwarts game, ever. He must win.

"Scared, Potter?" Sneered Malfoy. **[A.N. Ladies and gentlemen the precise reason I chose to include Lucius during the Marauder Era..!]**

James looked up and glared at Lucius. Despite his shivering figure, James' eyes held such extreme hatred that Malfoy avoided his gaze.

"Never, Malfoy." Replied James.

"GET SET." Madame Hooch Shouted as she ran out of the way of the mounted brooms.

James slowly leaned back as he squatted on his broom.

He looked at the Gryffindor stands, these are the people he is playing for, he must make them proud.

Through the cheering bustle of the crowd, James spotted Lily.

She looked beautiful.

Someone painted a red 'G' on her left cheek (that complemented her hair exceptionally) and she was waving a small red and gold flag.

Lily's eyes met James' and for a brief moment time stopped. Lily blushed and James winked.

"GO!" Shouted Hooch and the two teams sped off towards the sky, James wearing that furious grin he always wore whenever he played Quidditch.

* * *

><p><strong>Narrator's Pov (Still)<strong>

"AND OFF GOES GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN! GRYFFINDOR FLYING FLAWLESSLY THROUGH THE SKY, AS DOMINANT AS A LION! SLYTHERIN SOARING OUT THROUGH THE AIR AS SLY AS A SERPENT - THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE SOME TACTICS UP THEIR SLEEVE! BUT NOTHING POTTER AND HIS TEAM CAN'T HANDLE!" Alex Jordan commentated, being rather biased.

"THE QUAFFLE IS UP AND THE SNITCH IS RELEASED!"

"AND IT'S POTTER WITH THE QUAFFLE. PASSES TO CHASER LONGBOTTOM WHO THEM PASSES BACK TO POTTER BUT OOH! WOW, POTTER TOOK A BLUDGER THROWN BY AVERY. OUCH THAT'S GOT TO HURT!" Alex sympathized.

From down on the pitch James swore rather colorfully.

"What, Potter? Are you going to cry?" Avery asked mockingly.

"No, but you will - once we smash your arses of course." James retorted.

"Besides, I'm still in possession of the quaffle, so all you've done was attempt to insult me. Great job, Avery - I'm sure your team of slimy gits would be thrilled." James grinned as he flew off, leaving the enraged beater behind him.

"AFTER THAT HEAVY BUT WIMPY BLUDGER THROWN BY AVERY, POTTER SEEMS COMPLETELY UNFAZED. FUNNY HOW GETTING HIT BY A BLUDGER DOES NOTHING TO HIM BUT CATCHING A GLIMPSE OF EVANS WILL DRIVE HIM WILD." Alex Jordan snickered mischievously.

"MR JORDAN, HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU?" McGonnagal sighed as she shook her head from behind the comical commentator.

"Please be respectful" She continued.

"RIGHT, RIGHT. SORRY MS. ANYWAY POTTER PASSES TO WOOD WHO PASSES TO - NO IT IS INTERCEPTED BY SNAPE!" There was a collective gasp from the Gryffindor stand and a few cheers from the Slytherin supporters. - BUT WAIT! SNAPE HAS BEEN THROWN OFF HIS BROOM BY A NASTY BLUDGER LAUNCHED BY SIRIUS BLACK! AND BRILLIANT AIM SIRIUS, IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF" Alex Jordan commentated.

Sirius chuckled to himself as he gave Marlene a high five. Hitting Severus off his broom gave him some sort of rush, that and the physical contact with Marlene.

"WHILE SEVERUS RECOVERED FROM THE SHOCK AND CLIMBED BACK ONTO HIS BROOM, POTTER STOLE THE QUAFFLE! PASSED TO LONGBOTTOM WHO PASSED TO WOOD WHO PASSED BACK TO LONGBOTTOM WHO THEN PASSED TO POTTER AND... SCORE! 10 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR"

The Gryffindor supporters went wild, Lily and Elizabeth jumped out of their seats and cheered.

Evan Rosier glared up at a smug looking James.

"Sorry Rosier, better luck next time." James smirked as he flew away, rather smug with himself.

"One day.." Muttered Rosier, "One day he'll get what's coming for him."

(FORTY MINUTES LATER)

"AND SCORE! ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! THAT MAKES THE SCORE 130-20 GRYFFINDORS WAY! AND THANKS TO SLYTHERIN WE'VE NOW SEEN IT ALL, BAGGING, BLOCKING, BLATCHING, STOOGING, FLACKING, AND COBBING. GRYFFINDOR ONLY NEEDS TO SCORE THREE MORE GOALS AND THEY AUTOMATICALLY WIN - UNLESS SLYTHERIN CATCHES THE SNITCH FIRST!"

James smiled, having scored 11 out of the 13 goals, he was pretty proud of himself. Hell, he was thrilled with himself.

"COME ON GUYS!" He shouted, "ONLY THREE MORE! WE CAN DO THIS!"

Frank scored the first goal.

Alice burst out of her seat, clapping furiously.

"YES!" She shouted.

Lily laughed as she watched Frank search the crowd for Alice. Their eyes locked and Alice blushed. Frank grinned and flew off.

Alice exhaled and sat back down beside Lily,

"Aren't boys just irresistible when playing quidditch? I want to go and snog the pants off Frank!" Alice laughed.

"Gosh Alice! Too much information!" Lily giggled.

"But I guess I can see what you mean." Lily sighed gazing dreamily at the Chaser that just caught the Quaffle.

Alice quickly saw who Lily was ogling and chuckled.

"What?" Asked Lily defensively.

"Nothing!" Alice snorted.

"Come on Alice!" Lily groaned.

"Nothing, I swear! Quick look! Frank's about to score!" Alice changed the subject and leaped out of her seat.

"AND ANOTHER BRILLIANT SHOT BY LONGBOTTOM!" Alex Jordan noted.

The Gryffindors in the stands cheered wildly.

"THAT'S RIGHT; GRYFFINDOR ONLY HAS ONE MORE SHOT AND THEY WIN!" Alex Jordan shouted.

"Yes!" Frank Longbottom smiled at himself.

He felt a thump on his back and quickly spun around, James was leaning over the front of his broom and grinned at Frank.

"Alice looks pretty happy with you." Chuckled James as he jutted his chin towards the stands.

"She does, doesn't she?" Frank grinned.

"Keep it up, eh? One more and she's sure to snog the pants off of you tonight." James grinned suggestively.

"James, if this is your way of motivating me, I can assure you it isn't working." And once said, Frank flew off laughing.

"Well, it works for Sirius." James shrugged and flew back to the center of the field.

* * *

><p><strong>Narrators POV (Still, Still.)<strong>

This was potentially the final play of the year, and James' entire life, the quaffle was passed to Longbottom, then Potter, thrown to Wood, then back to Longbottom and finally to Potter again.

James steadied his breathing. This was it, his final moment.

He blocked out the cheering of the stands, the jeering coming from the Slytherin keeper, he looked straight at the center hoop and felt the Quaffle leave his hands. With one word on his mind.

.

.

Lily

.

.

The crowd went wild.

Shouting, celebrating, dancing, singing, kissing, laughing - just about everything you can imagine.

But James didn't hear anything.

His teammates came speeding towards him, Sirius knocked right into him and sent them both tumbling towards the ground.

"YOU BLOODY DID IT PRONGS! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT!" Sirius screamed.

James laughed as Sirius pulled them into a halt, a few meters off the grass.

The whole Gryffindor team shot at James, cheering and hugging.

But James' mind was somewhere else.

"Prongs, you alright?" Sirius asked, shaking his friend who looked a million miles away in thought.

"Yeah! I'm good, great actually! There's just something I need to do first." James replied.

And at that moment, Sirius understood.

James looked back at Sirius and smiled, leaped atop his broomstick and kicked off into the air.

* * *

><p>James flew higher and higher on his broomstick, the wind growing stronger the greater he flew.<p>

"And what do we have here?" Alex Jordan asked through the microphone, his voice rang out through the stands

The victory shouts from the Gryffindor supporters was soon hushed as they all gaped up at the only person still in the sky.

James pushed further through the air, his heart beating, but his eyes determined.

"It's James Potter! And it looks like, well it looks as if he's flying straight for the Gryffindor stands." Jordan continued.

James blinked and shook his head, trying to focus his blurry vision.

When finally he saw her, sitting at the top of the stands looking rather confused.

James smirked at the beautiful emerald-eyed girl (who's cheeks were now the color of her flaming hair) and flew towards her.

James flew over the stands and landed just above her.

The only girl that can ever make him lost for words, Lily Evans.

"Hi." Lily mumbled as she gazed up at the one and only James Potter.

"Hi" James replied.

The stands were silent.

"James, look I don't know what kind of trick you're playing on me, but it needs to stop," Lily stated as she crossed her arms.

She could hear Elizabeth gasp - but Lily didn't care. This needed to be said and if the entire school were to hear, so be it.

"What needs to stop?" James asked as he flew lower on his broomstick to be at eye level with the fiery red head.

"Don't you dare play innocent with me, James Potter. You think I haven't noticed all these little spells that you have jinxed around me." Lily growled.

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about," James replied honestly.

'Damn' James thought, this was supposed to be romantic. He was supposed to swoop her up into the air and kiss her so passionately that even the people she hates will feel joy

"Give it up Potter, even your Patronus is a bloody stag." She accused, growing angrier by the second and eve more oblivious to the entire school - who were now listening to their argument rather eagerly.

"So?" James raged "That has absolutely nothing to do with this." He snapped.

"No Potter, don't you see? That has everything to do with this. My Patronus is a doe, yours is a stag - do you even know what that means?" She demanded.

Far from the Gryffindor stands, stood Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonnagal.

"Get ready to hand over the galleon," Dumbledore smirked at the elderly witch beside him.

"Are you serious? They're arguing, what makes you think that this will end well for you and your silly bet?" McGonnagal scoffed.

"Just you wait." Albus grinned rather mischievously, in fact a bit too mischievous for Minerva's liking.

His eyes twinkled and looked exactly how the Marauders looked when they were planning a prank.

Minerva took a cautious step away from the old wizard and stuck her nose up.

"Good luck" She shrilled.

"I don't need luck." He chuckled and the two aged adults returned their attention to the Gryffindor stands once more.

"Am I supposed to know what that means" James stammered.

"It means that we're soulmates, James. You've really crossed the line this time. Our Patronus' match, you're everywhere, I can't stop thinking about you - Even my bloody Amortenia smells of you! What have you done to me Potter?" She pondered as her voice quivered.

James, as well as the rest of the school, was speechless.

But Lily wasn't finished.

"Some days I want to kiss you, other I want to punch you. You have me running around in circles trying to make up my bloody mind. It's like my life is a constant wheel and you're the hamster. Well listen, Potter, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't hate you. You may be a complete prat, but I still don't hate you. I've never hated you completely, though you may hate me after embarrassing you and myself like this... -" Lily ranted.

"I can never hate you." James protested.

Lily gazed up at the rest of the school, many shocked faces, Sirius Black the wanker was grinning, Alice sent her a nod, Elizabeth winked and Marlene motioned for her to continue.

"But I've made up my mind. I know what I want, and I can bloody well tell you that I won't stop until I get it." Lily acknowledged, her voice stronger.

"Okay and how exactly do you expect to 'get it'?" James teased.

"Like this," Lily stated as she rested her arms atop James' shoulders, stood higher on her toes and pressed his lips to hers. James fell into the kiss, leaning his head to hers and pulled her closer to his chest.

The crowd exploded, Sirius Black screaming 'I told you so' to anyone who'd listen, Marlene and Elizabeth clapping and shouting, Gryffindors howling and cheering, a few 'get a room' -s coming from the Slytherin stand and some more Sirius Black shouting.

But James and Lily couldn't hear, they were too wrapped up in the moment, Lily found herself rushing her fingers through the messy hair that had once driven her mad. James couldn't believe that after all these years of chasing he finally caught the beautiful Lily Evans. He smirked into this kiss and Lily moaned, he knew exactly what this was doing to her.

After all those years of teasing, fighting, chasing and driving each other mad - there was that moment, where the world just clicked into place.

And my gosh, was it perfect.

_(Dumbledore walked out of the stands, fifty galleons richer that day.)_

* * *

><p><strong>See Authors Note Next Chapter xx<strong>


	9. Author's Note

**A.N.**

**HOW DARE I NOT UPDATE FOR LIKE 2 YEARS! I ALSO DIDN'T FINISH THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WITH A "HOW DARE HE" BECAUSE NOW LILY HAS ACCEPTED THAT SHE LOVES JAMES SO HE ISN'T AT FAULT ANYMORE! JUST TO CLEAR THAT UP! ANYWAY, ON WITH MY RANT;**

OH MY GOSH I AM SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON SOMEONE SEND ME TO ASKABAN. I HAVE TAKEN ABSOLUTELY AGES ON THIS FINAL CHAPTER LIKE A YEAR ... WHAT? AND I REALLY HOPE THAT YOU FORGIVE ME!

**Life has been pretty full on at the moment and I'm just really overwhelmed with school, family and friends - I really hope you pardon me and my shocking lack of chapter updating!**

**I've taken a few online writing courses and I have been trying really hard with my grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I know that this chapter is not perfect (and is obviously very far from it) so if you find anything, please point it out to me! I'd love some constructive criticism.**

**I really, really, really hope you've enjoyed this chapter series (I think that's what it's called!) The final chapter is very long.. but I really wanted to make sure it was a good ending because I know the struggle of reading a book and the book is brilliant, but the ending turns out to be horrid!**

**Please message me your opinions on the ending, I really want to see what you guys thought!**

**It's super late, like three in the morning and hopefully that explains my horrible choice of words in this Authors Note. I just really can't describe how glad I am to finally be able to update!**

**I just want to finish by saying that I really enjoyed writing this, It's my first multi-chapter fic and I'm so thankful for all the support, I love you all so much and thank you for taking the time to read this.**

**All my love - and that's a lot by the way.**

**Amelia and Dorito.**

**xxox**

**Please share your views on my story, I will really appreciate it!**


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